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"content": "\u003cp>A group of San Francisco activists wants to oust a private prison corporation from a historic site in the Tenderloin and turn it into a community resource center. But on July 16, their strategy to use zoning law to do so hit a roadblock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a packed five-hour Board of Appeals meeting where over 60 people gave impassioned testimonies supporting the activists, the board ruled in favor of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/geo-group\">Geo Group\u003c/a> in a zoning dispute over 111 Taylor, a building where \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/comptons-cafeteria-riot\">a riot for trans rights\u003c/a> took place in 1966.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have not lost this fight,” said historian Susan Stryker to her fellow activists after they exited the hearing. “We’re going to continue pursuing justice. … We’re gonna do it together and we’re gonna live to be the change that we need to see in this world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978879\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978879\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chandra Laborde speaks before the San Francisco Board of Appeals on July 16, 2025 urging the removal of GEO Group from the historic Compton’s Cafeteria building and its return to community use. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To understand the significance of the hearing, it’s crucial to understand the building’s history. In the ’60s, 111 Taylor was a late-night diner called Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, a popular hangout for trans women and queer people. Police routinely raided the establishment, and one summer night the patrons fought back. After the riot, San Francisco became the first city to create social services for its trans community — three years before a similar riot at Stonewall Inn in New York City launched the modern-day LGBTQ+ rights movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the diner’s former location at the intersection of Turk and Taylor Streets is the epicenter of San Francisco’s Transgender District, the first of its kind in the country. Every year during Pride, the Trans March concludes at Turk and Taylor, where activists call back to that summer night at Compton’s Cafeteria for inspiration in today’s battle for trans rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet activists say 111 Taylor’s current operations are an affront to this history. Geo Group is a multi-billion-dollar private prison corporation that has been accused of holding inmates in \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/05/california-detention-center-abuse\">inhumane conditions\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/geo-group-cant-nix-23-mln-verdict-over-immigrant-detainee-pay-2025-01-16/\">underpaying them for prison labor\u003c/a>. At 111 Taylor, a subsidiary of the company, Geo Reentry Services, runs a transitional facility for people on parole. (Geo Group also operates ICE detention centers and has recently made headlines for \u003ca href=\"https://theappeal.org/geo-group-earnings-may-mass-deportation/\">profiting from the Trump administration’s mass deportations\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that the building should be something different that is aligned with the legacy of resistance,” said Chandra Laborde, the appellant in the zoning dispute and a member of \u003ca href=\"https://www.comptonsxcoalition.net/\">Compton’s x Coalition\u003c/a>, the activist group behind the “Liberate Compton’s” movement. [aside postid='arts_13975971']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Board of Appeals hearing, Laborde went head-to-head with Geo Group’s attorney, David Blackwell. In her presentation, she argued that the board should revoke Geo Group’s zoning letter of determination, a document Geo Group needs to maintain its contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). 111 Taylor is currently zoned for group housing, and Laborde argued that Geo Group is violating its current zoning by providing services that are more in line with a residential care facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, after 111 Taylor’s Facility Director Maria Richard made a case for the institution’s service to the community, Blackwell’s legal argument zeroed in on the Board of Appeals’ jurisdiction. He contended that its sole responsibility is to determine whether Zoning Administrator Corey Teague committed an error or abused his discretion when issuing the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to make this distinction that it all can’t be conflated into one big ‘we hate Geo’ fest,” said Blackwell. “That’s not what this is about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978880\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978880\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Blackwell, land‑use attorney for GEO Group, listens as activists appeal the for‑profit operator’s reentry center at 111 Taylor St. before the Board of Appeals on July 16. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When public comment opened, Laborde and the Compton’s x Coalition got support from prominent figures like District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin; Janetta Johnson, a Transgender District co-founder and director of the Transgender Gender-Variant Intersex Justice Project, which helps incarcerated trans people; and Honey Mahogany, director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives. [aside postid='arts_13977080']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their comments, community members pointed to AB 32, a California law that will ban most private prisons by 2028. Several former residents of 111 Taylor who spoke against Geo Group described it as a prison-like environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m formerly incarcerated, and I’m here to give a voice of the reentry community to say that my successful reentry has been \u003cem>in spite\u003c/em> of Geo Group,” said a San Francisco resident named Joseph Norris. “There is a lie and a myth that Geo Group helps people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that everyone here who’s speaking at public comment supports those who are formerly incarcerated, wants to see those people transition into everyday life, wants those people to have a safe place to live and to be able to have resources,” said Mahogany. “But what we are saying is that Geo Group has been continually found to be in violation of their stewardship, their requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978876\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978876\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Honey Mahogany addresses the Board of Appeals during public comment on July 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Out of the dozens of commenters, only a handful of people spoke in support of Geo Group, including a retired parole officer and several former residents. “I was given two life sentences when I was 15 years old. I got over two decades inside,” said one speaker who identified himself as William. “Going to 111 Taylor was a blessing. If I had been paroled to my family, I would have been a burden on them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite speakers’ passionate arguments about trans history and the best way to support formerly incarcerated people, the board’s final ruling in Geo Group’s favor came down to a legal technicality. Several of the five Board of Appeals commissioners said they agreed with the activists’ ideas, but explained that their job at hand was to determine whether the Zoning Administrator committed an error or abuse in determining the legal use of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we had a proposition on the city buying the property and handing it over to the trans community as a community center, I would vote the same way that a lot of folks in this room would,” said Commissioner Jose Lopez. “But that’s not what’s on the table for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the vote to uphold Geo Group’s letter of determination was 4-1, with Board Vice President J.R. Eppler siding with the activists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet there may be other legal avenues at the Compton’s x Coalition’s disposal. Separately from the hearing, the Planning Department has an ongoing investigation at 111 Taylor to determine whether Geo Group has violated its zoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Blackwell and members of Geo staff at the Board of Appeals hearing, including Facility Director Maria Richard, declined interviews with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978878\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">111 Taylor St., the former Compton’s Cafeteria site, is now operated as a GEO Group halfway house in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Compton’s x Coalition’s ultimate goal is to pressure Geo Group to sell the building to a community land trust so that local residents can reimagine it as a resource center for the neighborhood. The next envisioning session for the building’s future is on Aug. 23; ideas for the space so far have included housing, an arts space, and a site offering services for trans people and immigrants in the Tenderloin, many of whom live below the poverty line. [aside postid='arts_13977767']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It remains to be seen whether Geo Group would ever be willing to sell the building, but State Senator Scott Wiener told KQED in an interview that there is a precedent, and that he supports the activists. “In terms of purchase of private property to restore it to a cultural use, that’s not uncommon,” he said. “There have been plenty of examples of a home of a historic figure being purchased and turned into a museum, or in a different context, purchasing private land to preserve it as natural space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by phone after the hearing, Supervisor Mahmood said he’s disappointed with the outcome and plans to meet with activists, the City Attorney’s office, the Planning Department and other officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve talked to previous supervisors who held this position representing the Tenderloin, and this has been coming up again and again and again, and the community just has not been able to get adequate justice on this site,” he said, adding, “We look forward to … figuring out a next step in partnership with the community.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Trans Activists Vow to ‘Liberate Compton’s’ Despite Appeal Loss | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A group of San Francisco activists wants to oust a private prison corporation from a historic site in the Tenderloin and turn it into a community resource center. But on July 16, their strategy to use zoning law to do so hit a roadblock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a packed five-hour Board of Appeals meeting where over 60 people gave impassioned testimonies supporting the activists, the board ruled in favor of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/geo-group\">Geo Group\u003c/a> in a zoning dispute over 111 Taylor, a building where \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/comptons-cafeteria-riot\">a riot for trans rights\u003c/a> took place in 1966.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have not lost this fight,” said historian Susan Stryker to her fellow activists after they exited the hearing. “We’re going to continue pursuing justice. … We’re gonna do it together and we’re gonna live to be the change that we need to see in this world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978879\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978879\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-6_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chandra Laborde speaks before the San Francisco Board of Appeals on July 16, 2025 urging the removal of GEO Group from the historic Compton’s Cafeteria building and its return to community use. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To understand the significance of the hearing, it’s crucial to understand the building’s history. In the ’60s, 111 Taylor was a late-night diner called Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, a popular hangout for trans women and queer people. Police routinely raided the establishment, and one summer night the patrons fought back. After the riot, San Francisco became the first city to create social services for its trans community — three years before a similar riot at Stonewall Inn in New York City launched the modern-day LGBTQ+ rights movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the diner’s former location at the intersection of Turk and Taylor Streets is the epicenter of San Francisco’s Transgender District, the first of its kind in the country. Every year during Pride, the Trans March concludes at Turk and Taylor, where activists call back to that summer night at Compton’s Cafeteria for inspiration in today’s battle for trans rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet activists say 111 Taylor’s current operations are an affront to this history. Geo Group is a multi-billion-dollar private prison corporation that has been accused of holding inmates in \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/05/california-detention-center-abuse\">inhumane conditions\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/geo-group-cant-nix-23-mln-verdict-over-immigrant-detainee-pay-2025-01-16/\">underpaying them for prison labor\u003c/a>. At 111 Taylor, a subsidiary of the company, Geo Reentry Services, runs a transitional facility for people on parole. (Geo Group also operates ICE detention centers and has recently made headlines for \u003ca href=\"https://theappeal.org/geo-group-earnings-may-mass-deportation/\">profiting from the Trump administration’s mass deportations\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that the building should be something different that is aligned with the legacy of resistance,” said Chandra Laborde, the appellant in the zoning dispute and a member of \u003ca href=\"https://www.comptonsxcoalition.net/\">Compton’s x Coalition\u003c/a>, the activist group behind the “Liberate Compton’s” movement. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Board of Appeals hearing, Laborde went head-to-head with Geo Group’s attorney, David Blackwell. In her presentation, she argued that the board should revoke Geo Group’s zoning letter of determination, a document Geo Group needs to maintain its contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). 111 Taylor is currently zoned for group housing, and Laborde argued that Geo Group is violating its current zoning by providing services that are more in line with a residential care facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, after 111 Taylor’s Facility Director Maria Richard made a case for the institution’s service to the community, Blackwell’s legal argument zeroed in on the Board of Appeals’ jurisdiction. He contended that its sole responsibility is to determine whether Zoning Administrator Corey Teague committed an error or abused his discretion when issuing the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to make this distinction that it all can’t be conflated into one big ‘we hate Geo’ fest,” said Blackwell. “That’s not what this is about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978880\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978880\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-10_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Blackwell, land‑use attorney for GEO Group, listens as activists appeal the for‑profit operator’s reentry center at 111 Taylor St. before the Board of Appeals on July 16. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When public comment opened, Laborde and the Compton’s x Coalition got support from prominent figures like District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin; Janetta Johnson, a Transgender District co-founder and director of the Transgender Gender-Variant Intersex Justice Project, which helps incarcerated trans people; and Honey Mahogany, director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their comments, community members pointed to AB 32, a California law that will ban most private prisons by 2028. Several former residents of 111 Taylor who spoke against Geo Group described it as a prison-like environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m formerly incarcerated, and I’m here to give a voice of the reentry community to say that my successful reentry has been \u003cem>in spite\u003c/em> of Geo Group,” said a San Francisco resident named Joseph Norris. “There is a lie and a myth that Geo Group helps people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that everyone here who’s speaking at public comment supports those who are formerly incarcerated, wants to see those people transition into everyday life, wants those people to have a safe place to live and to be able to have resources,” said Mahogany. “But what we are saying is that Geo Group has been continually found to be in violation of their stewardship, their requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978876\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978876\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH-11_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Honey Mahogany addresses the Board of Appeals during public comment on July 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Out of the dozens of commenters, only a handful of people spoke in support of Geo Group, including a retired parole officer and several former residents. “I was given two life sentences when I was 15 years old. I got over two decades inside,” said one speaker who identified himself as William. “Going to 111 Taylor was a blessing. If I had been paroled to my family, I would have been a burden on them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite speakers’ passionate arguments about trans history and the best way to support formerly incarcerated people, the board’s final ruling in Geo Group’s favor came down to a legal technicality. Several of the five Board of Appeals commissioners said they agreed with the activists’ ideas, but explained that their job at hand was to determine whether the Zoning Administrator committed an error or abuse in determining the legal use of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we had a proposition on the city buying the property and handing it over to the trans community as a community center, I would vote the same way that a lot of folks in this room would,” said Commissioner Jose Lopez. “But that’s not what’s on the table for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the vote to uphold Geo Group’s letter of determination was 4-1, with Board Vice President J.R. Eppler siding with the activists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet there may be other legal avenues at the Compton’s x Coalition’s disposal. Separately from the hearing, the Planning Department has an ongoing investigation at 111 Taylor to determine whether Geo Group has violated its zoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Blackwell and members of Geo staff at the Board of Appeals hearing, including Facility Director Maria Richard, declined interviews with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978878\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250716_ComptonsCafeteriaBuilding_GH_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">111 Taylor St., the former Compton’s Cafeteria site, is now operated as a GEO Group halfway house in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Compton’s x Coalition’s ultimate goal is to pressure Geo Group to sell the building to a community land trust so that local residents can reimagine it as a resource center for the neighborhood. The next envisioning session for the building’s future is on Aug. 23; ideas for the space so far have included housing, an arts space, and a site offering services for trans people and immigrants in the Tenderloin, many of whom live below the poverty line. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It remains to be seen whether Geo Group would ever be willing to sell the building, but State Senator Scott Wiener told KQED in an interview that there is a precedent, and that he supports the activists. “In terms of purchase of private property to restore it to a cultural use, that’s not uncommon,” he said. “There have been plenty of examples of a home of a historic figure being purchased and turned into a museum, or in a different context, purchasing private land to preserve it as natural space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by phone after the hearing, Supervisor Mahmood said he’s disappointed with the outcome and plans to meet with activists, the City Attorney’s office, the Planning Department and other officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve talked to previous supervisors who held this position representing the Tenderloin, and this has been coming up again and again and again, and the community just has not been able to get adequate justice on this site,” he said, adding, “We look forward to … figuring out a next step in partnership with the community.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>I live with a man who smokes two packs of Camel Filters a day. He smokes like it’s the 1950s. He smokes like no one’s ever mentioned it’s bad for him. And I have noticed one particularly life-impacting side effect to all of this tobacco consumption — one I’d never considered before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/cats\">cats\u003c/a>. Many, many cats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out, if you spend a lot of time outside smoking, you end up accidentally meeting a plethora of homeless kitties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At our last house, there was Winter, the skittish black cat who rolled up our driveway every night for a can of Fancy Feast. Before that, there was Jerky, who we found starving in the parking lot of a La Quinta Inn, dumped there by her owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now there’s Susan, a silver cat with striking white eyeliner, who recently waddled into our garden so extraordinarily pregnant she could no longer groom her lower half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977804\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977804\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth.png\" alt=\"A grey cat lies on its side on a brown towel and yellow blanket, feeding 4 or 5 newborn kittens.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1367\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth-160x109.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth-768x525.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth-1536x1050.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Susan, in the process of giving birth to what felt like 57 kittens. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After a week of receiving snacks and pettings, Susan opted to come inside the house. It wasn’t long before I noticed the telltale gelatinous bulb emerging. I knew right away: Kittens were coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I let Susan pick a quiet corner and started putting towels and blankets underneath her. I laid down next to her, waited — and within 20 minutes, a tiny kitten slopped into the world, with its amniotic sac tethered to an umbilical cord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susan took one look at her new baby and promptly devoured the sac and cord in a manner that made me think of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHoqL7DFevc\">Hannibal Lecter and his nice Chianti\u003c/a>.[aside postID=arts_13978519 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/opossum.jpg']I watched in wonder as Susan did this terrible, perfectly natural thing to each kitten as it emerged, then enthusiastically groomed them. Her efficiency was striking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susan birthed seven kittens that day. It took me three full days to realize it wasn’t six. Lord only knows when that last one popped out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven kittens are, by anyone’s standards, too many kittens. We responded to the new arrivals by doing what we’d seen on TV and stuck them all in a massive cardboard box.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We kept Susan fed but largely left her to it. She gave us little choice, hissing and swatting any time we attempted to put a hand inside her new home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching the kittens grow day by day, it was impossible not to think about all the other Susans in the world — cats forced to give birth outside, without a consistent food source, somehow trying to keep their babies alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to multiple rescue organizations KQED contacted, those cats are rapidly increasing in number.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Stray cat populations are booming\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The exact number of stray cats in the Bay Area is impossible to confirm. The \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayspca.org/\">East Bay SPCA\u003c/a> told me that, as of June, it had already taken in 430 kittens this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organization anticipates receiving another 250 kittens in July alone, during what’s known as “kitten season.” The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfanimalcare.org/about-us/shelter-statistics/\">San Francisco Animal Care and Control\u003c/a> (SFACC) reports that the organization takes in around 2,000 cats a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978721\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978721\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cat family of a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) project sits in their enclosures next to each other at Island Cat Resources & Adoption Board President Merry Bates’ home in the Laurel District in Oakland on July 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rescuers around the Bay Area say those figures reflect a minuscule percentage of the true number of homeless cats in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The cat population is unlike anything I have seen in the over 30 years I have been in rescue,” cautions \u003ca href=\"https://toniskittyrescue.org/about/\">Toni Sestak\u003c/a>, who spent more than two decades coordinating neonatal kitten fostering for the SFACC. “I fear it is only going to worsen.” Her position was eliminated in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the only effective ways to control the numbers is via TNR — trapping, neutering and releasing cats back to where they came from. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfspca.org/resource/tnr/\">San Francisco SPCA website\u003c/a> explains why doing this is so essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stray and feral cats populate an area when there’s food and shelter,” the SPCA states. “If the cats are removed, other cats will find the vacant space and move in … The new cats will have more kittens and repeat the cycle. With TNR, the original cats are returned to their territory, so new cats will not move into the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978732\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978732\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Island Cat Director Peggy Harding (left) carries the enclosure with a kitten inside as Island Cat Board President Merry Bates chats with a resident about the last cat they are waiting to trap in the Laurel District in Oakland on July 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For TNR volunteers like Sestak and Merry Bates of \u003ca href=\"https://icraeastbay.org/contact-us/\">Island Cat Resources and Adoption\u003c/a>, the boom in homeless cat numbers has made the last few years extra challenging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The demand is huge,” Bates says. “When it comes to cats, they are so efficient at reproducing. And when they’re semi-feral, it’s not as simple as just picking them up and taking them to get spayed. You have to catch them first. It’s definitely work.”[aside postID=arts_13956635 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/IMG_0056-1020x638.jpeg']Bates helps cats in Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro, while Sestak is based in San Francisco. Both have been involved with rescue, rehoming and spay/neuter efforts since the early 1990s, and tell me that stray cat numbers are currently increasing at a rate that’s impossible to keep up with. This isn’t just bad for the cats — it can wreak havoc on natural ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://abcbirds.org/news/outdoor-cats-single-greatest-source-of-human-caused-mortality-for-birds-and-mammals-says-new-study/\">the American Bird Conservancy\u003c/a>, outdoor cats kill roughly 2.4 billion birds every year. This is possible because there are tens of millions of cats in the U.S. that spend at least some of their time outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making matters worse, TNR organizations say it’s becoming harder to find affordable veterinary care. Both Sestak and Bates say leadership changes at community shelters on both sides of the Bay have led to fewer annual spay/neuter surgeries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The cost of veterinary services has gone up ridiculously, too,” Sestak says. “We lost so many veterinarians during COVID. In San Francisco now, we only have three vet offices that are not run by corporations. That’s a giant problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates describes a similar situation in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977809\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977809\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen.png\" alt=\"Two older kittens sleep together, embracing one another.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen-768x768.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen-1536x1536.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Kevin and Imogen, who reporter Rae Alexandra initially (and ‘foolishly’) considered separating. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are very few resources left,” she says. “What is left is expensive and hard to get to. We’re seeing now that even though people want to help, they can’t make it work with transportation or costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Island Cat typically exceeds 2,000 spays and neuters annually, 75% of which are performed on homeless cats. The nonprofit estimates that it has successfully spayed or neutered 22,000 homeless cats in the past 30 years, despite having only 10 dedicated trappers and 20 foster homes that rotate in and out of use. In addition, Island Cat finds homes for 140 to 160 cats per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a really small number,” Bates notes. “Ideally, we’d love to get more cats off the street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How cat lovers can help\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Collectives of good citizens like Sestak — who now runs \u003ca href=\"https://toniskittyrescue.org/\">Toni’s Kitty Rescue\u003c/a> — are scattered across the Bay Area, doing their best to reduce the homeless cat population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One such nonprofit is \u003ca href=\"https://www.cattownoakland.org/\">Cat Town\u003c/a>, an adoption center specifically focused on getting sick, senior and skittish cats out of traditional shelters and into foster homes, where they can undergo rehab to become more adoptable. The organization typically houses 30 cats at its \u003ca href=\"https://www.cattownoakland.org/reservations\">Oakland adoption center\u003c/a> and up to 50 in foster homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the pandemic, Cat Town Executive Director Andrew Dorman has noticed surging numbers of stray cats in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978807\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1126px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978807\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632.jpg\" alt=\"A small kitten on a blue and red leash looks upward while crouching on a redwood tree in a redwood grove\" width=\"1126\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632.jpg 1126w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632-160x284.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632-768x1364.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632-865x1536.jpg 865w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1126px) 100vw, 1126px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED reporter Carlos Cabrera-Lomeleí adopted one of Susan‘s kittens, named Tlalolin, and often takes it out on walks. \u003ccite>(Carlos Cabrera-Lomeleí/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We work really closely with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandanimalservices.org/\">municipal shelter here in Oakland\u003c/a>, and their cat intake is up 42% in 2024, compared to 2019,” Dorman tells KQED. “During the pandemic, there was a huge scaling back of spay/neuter services. My sense is that the explosion of the population we’re seeing now is directly attributable to that. Our partners are being overwhelmed by the demand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dorman says there are many ways for the public to help stray cats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are blessed in this region with a really amazing network of animal welfare organizations,” Dorman says. “Every community, every city has a good shelter and at least a few good cat rescues. Get involved with the one that’s closest to you, whose work is aligned with your values as a volunteer, as a foster and hopefully as a donor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Spay and neuter your pets. And people who feed outdoor cats? We always say you should fix every cat that you feed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cat Town is actively seeking \u003ca href=\"https://www.cattownoakland.org/foster\">experienced foster homes\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cattownoakland.org/volunteer\">volunteers\u003c/a> for its adoption center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For TNR, Bates suggests watching and reading as many tutorials as possible before volunteering as a trapper — essential, she says, for the safety of both cats and volunteers. The Island Cat website has \u003ca href=\"https://icraeastbay.org/resources/cat-education/\">extensive tutorials\u003c/a> on cat care, including \u003ca href=\"https://icraeastbay.org/resources/cat-education/community-cat-management/\">how to get started in TNR\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alternatively, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fullcirclecats.org/\">Full Circle Cats\u003c/a>, an East Bay nonprofit that has fixed 4,144 cats and housed an additional 1,459 over the past five years, holds \u003ca href=\"https://www.fullcirclecats.org/workshops\">regular workshops\u003c/a> to better educate the public on TNR. The organization also trains volunteers on how to care for neonatal kittens and socialize young cats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://animalfixclinic.org/\">Animal Fix Clinic\u003c/a> in Pinole is one of the few clinics left in the Bay that still offers very low-cost services for homeless cats. One $45 fee covers a spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, a parasite treatment and a microchip. The nonprofit fixed 2,224 community cats in the first seven months of 2025 — 400 more than the same period last year. \u003ca href=\"https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/animalfixclinic\">Animal Fix is reliant on donations\u003c/a> from the public to cover its costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for my personal cat rescue operation, we opted to provide Susan a permanent home — and wound up keeping two of her kittens, too. All three cats have now been fixed and microchipped at low cost, courtesy of Stockton’s \u003ca href=\"https://apl209.org/\">Animal Protection League\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We rehomed the other five kittens to friends and coworkers, including KQED Community Reporter \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ccabreralomeli\">Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí\u003c/a>, who even takes his little one out on a leash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, we never intended for simple cigarette breaks to bring so many cats into our lives. But now? We’re in love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Stray cat populations are surging across the Bay Area as rescue groups struggle to keep up. KQED Arts reporter Rae Alexandra is pitching in — and so can you.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>I live with a man who smokes two packs of Camel Filters a day. He smokes like it’s the 1950s. He smokes like no one’s ever mentioned it’s bad for him. And I have noticed one particularly life-impacting side effect to all of this tobacco consumption — one I’d never considered before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/cats\">cats\u003c/a>. Many, many cats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out, if you spend a lot of time outside smoking, you end up accidentally meeting a plethora of homeless kitties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At our last house, there was Winter, the skittish black cat who rolled up our driveway every night for a can of Fancy Feast. Before that, there was Jerky, who we found starving in the parking lot of a La Quinta Inn, dumped there by her owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now there’s Susan, a silver cat with striking white eyeliner, who recently waddled into our garden so extraordinarily pregnant she could no longer groom her lower half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977804\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977804\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth.png\" alt=\"A grey cat lies on its side on a brown towel and yellow blanket, feeding 4 or 5 newborn kittens.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1367\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth-160x109.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth-768x525.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Susan-Birth-1536x1050.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Susan, in the process of giving birth to what felt like 57 kittens. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After a week of receiving snacks and pettings, Susan opted to come inside the house. It wasn’t long before I noticed the telltale gelatinous bulb emerging. I knew right away: Kittens were coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I let Susan pick a quiet corner and started putting towels and blankets underneath her. I laid down next to her, waited — and within 20 minutes, a tiny kitten slopped into the world, with its amniotic sac tethered to an umbilical cord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susan took one look at her new baby and promptly devoured the sac and cord in a manner that made me think of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHoqL7DFevc\">Hannibal Lecter and his nice Chianti\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I watched in wonder as Susan did this terrible, perfectly natural thing to each kitten as it emerged, then enthusiastically groomed them. Her efficiency was striking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susan birthed seven kittens that day. It took me three full days to realize it wasn’t six. Lord only knows when that last one popped out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seven kittens are, by anyone’s standards, too many kittens. We responded to the new arrivals by doing what we’d seen on TV and stuck them all in a massive cardboard box.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We kept Susan fed but largely left her to it. She gave us little choice, hissing and swatting any time we attempted to put a hand inside her new home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching the kittens grow day by day, it was impossible not to think about all the other Susans in the world — cats forced to give birth outside, without a consistent food source, somehow trying to keep their babies alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to multiple rescue organizations KQED contacted, those cats are rapidly increasing in number.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Stray cat populations are booming\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The exact number of stray cats in the Bay Area is impossible to confirm. The \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayspca.org/\">East Bay SPCA\u003c/a> told me that, as of June, it had already taken in 430 kittens this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organization anticipates receiving another 250 kittens in July alone, during what’s known as “kitten season.” The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfanimalcare.org/about-us/shelter-statistics/\">San Francisco Animal Care and Control\u003c/a> (SFACC) reports that the organization takes in around 2,000 cats a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978721\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978721\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00084_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cat family of a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) project sits in their enclosures next to each other at Island Cat Resources & Adoption Board President Merry Bates’ home in the Laurel District in Oakland on July 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rescuers around the Bay Area say those figures reflect a minuscule percentage of the true number of homeless cats in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The cat population is unlike anything I have seen in the over 30 years I have been in rescue,” cautions \u003ca href=\"https://toniskittyrescue.org/about/\">Toni Sestak\u003c/a>, who spent more than two decades coordinating neonatal kitten fostering for the SFACC. “I fear it is only going to worsen.” Her position was eliminated in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the only effective ways to control the numbers is via TNR — trapping, neutering and releasing cats back to where they came from. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfspca.org/resource/tnr/\">San Francisco SPCA website\u003c/a> explains why doing this is so essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Stray and feral cats populate an area when there’s food and shelter,” the SPCA states. “If the cats are removed, other cats will find the vacant space and move in … The new cats will have more kittens and repeat the cycle. With TNR, the original cats are returned to their territory, so new cats will not move into the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978732\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978732\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250713-streetcats_00454_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Island Cat Director Peggy Harding (left) carries the enclosure with a kitten inside as Island Cat Board President Merry Bates chats with a resident about the last cat they are waiting to trap in the Laurel District in Oakland on July 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For TNR volunteers like Sestak and Merry Bates of \u003ca href=\"https://icraeastbay.org/contact-us/\">Island Cat Resources and Adoption\u003c/a>, the boom in homeless cat numbers has made the last few years extra challenging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The demand is huge,” Bates says. “When it comes to cats, they are so efficient at reproducing. And when they’re semi-feral, it’s not as simple as just picking them up and taking them to get spayed. You have to catch them first. It’s definitely work.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Bates helps cats in Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro, while Sestak is based in San Francisco. Both have been involved with rescue, rehoming and spay/neuter efforts since the early 1990s, and tell me that stray cat numbers are currently increasing at a rate that’s impossible to keep up with. This isn’t just bad for the cats — it can wreak havoc on natural ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://abcbirds.org/news/outdoor-cats-single-greatest-source-of-human-caused-mortality-for-birds-and-mammals-says-new-study/\">the American Bird Conservancy\u003c/a>, outdoor cats kill roughly 2.4 billion birds every year. This is possible because there are tens of millions of cats in the U.S. that spend at least some of their time outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making matters worse, TNR organizations say it’s becoming harder to find affordable veterinary care. Both Sestak and Bates say leadership changes at community shelters on both sides of the Bay have led to fewer annual spay/neuter surgeries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The cost of veterinary services has gone up ridiculously, too,” Sestak says. “We lost so many veterinarians during COVID. In San Francisco now, we only have three vet offices that are not run by corporations. That’s a giant problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bates describes a similar situation in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977809\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977809\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen.png\" alt=\"Two older kittens sleep together, embracing one another.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen-768x768.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/Kevin-and-Imogen-1536x1536.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Kevin and Imogen, who reporter Rae Alexandra initially (and ‘foolishly’) considered separating. \u003ccite>(Rae Alexandra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are very few resources left,” she says. “What is left is expensive and hard to get to. We’re seeing now that even though people want to help, they can’t make it work with transportation or costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Island Cat typically exceeds 2,000 spays and neuters annually, 75% of which are performed on homeless cats. The nonprofit estimates that it has successfully spayed or neutered 22,000 homeless cats in the past 30 years, despite having only 10 dedicated trappers and 20 foster homes that rotate in and out of use. In addition, Island Cat finds homes for 140 to 160 cats per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a really small number,” Bates notes. “Ideally, we’d love to get more cats off the street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How cat lovers can help\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Collectives of good citizens like Sestak — who now runs \u003ca href=\"https://toniskittyrescue.org/\">Toni’s Kitty Rescue\u003c/a> — are scattered across the Bay Area, doing their best to reduce the homeless cat population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One such nonprofit is \u003ca href=\"https://www.cattownoakland.org/\">Cat Town\u003c/a>, an adoption center specifically focused on getting sick, senior and skittish cats out of traditional shelters and into foster homes, where they can undergo rehab to become more adoptable. The organization typically houses 30 cats at its \u003ca href=\"https://www.cattownoakland.org/reservations\">Oakland adoption center\u003c/a> and up to 50 in foster homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the pandemic, Cat Town Executive Director Andrew Dorman has noticed surging numbers of stray cats in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978807\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1126px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978807\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632.jpg\" alt=\"A small kitten on a blue and red leash looks upward while crouching on a redwood tree in a redwood grove\" width=\"1126\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632.jpg 1126w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632-160x284.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632-768x1364.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/20250503_135632-865x1536.jpg 865w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1126px) 100vw, 1126px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">KQED reporter Carlos Cabrera-Lomeleí adopted one of Susan‘s kittens, named Tlalolin, and often takes it out on walks. \u003ccite>(Carlos Cabrera-Lomeleí/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We work really closely with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandanimalservices.org/\">municipal shelter here in Oakland\u003c/a>, and their cat intake is up 42% in 2024, compared to 2019,” Dorman tells KQED. “During the pandemic, there was a huge scaling back of spay/neuter services. My sense is that the explosion of the population we’re seeing now is directly attributable to that. Our partners are being overwhelmed by the demand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dorman says there are many ways for the public to help stray cats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are blessed in this region with a really amazing network of animal welfare organizations,” Dorman says. “Every community, every city has a good shelter and at least a few good cat rescues. Get involved with the one that’s closest to you, whose work is aligned with your values as a volunteer, as a foster and hopefully as a donor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Spay and neuter your pets. And people who feed outdoor cats? We always say you should fix every cat that you feed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cat Town is actively seeking \u003ca href=\"https://www.cattownoakland.org/foster\">experienced foster homes\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cattownoakland.org/volunteer\">volunteers\u003c/a> for its adoption center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For TNR, Bates suggests watching and reading as many tutorials as possible before volunteering as a trapper — essential, she says, for the safety of both cats and volunteers. The Island Cat website has \u003ca href=\"https://icraeastbay.org/resources/cat-education/\">extensive tutorials\u003c/a> on cat care, including \u003ca href=\"https://icraeastbay.org/resources/cat-education/community-cat-management/\">how to get started in TNR\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alternatively, \u003ca href=\"https://www.fullcirclecats.org/\">Full Circle Cats\u003c/a>, an East Bay nonprofit that has fixed 4,144 cats and housed an additional 1,459 over the past five years, holds \u003ca href=\"https://www.fullcirclecats.org/workshops\">regular workshops\u003c/a> to better educate the public on TNR. The organization also trains volunteers on how to care for neonatal kittens and socialize young cats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://animalfixclinic.org/\">Animal Fix Clinic\u003c/a> in Pinole is one of the few clinics left in the Bay that still offers very low-cost services for homeless cats. One $45 fee covers a spay or neuter surgery, vaccinations, a parasite treatment and a microchip. The nonprofit fixed 2,224 community cats in the first seven months of 2025 — 400 more than the same period last year. \u003ca href=\"https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/animalfixclinic\">Animal Fix is reliant on donations\u003c/a> from the public to cover its costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for my personal cat rescue operation, we opted to provide Susan a permanent home — and wound up keeping two of her kittens, too. All three cats have now been fixed and microchipped at low cost, courtesy of Stockton’s \u003ca href=\"https://apl209.org/\">Animal Protection League\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We rehomed the other five kittens to friends and coworkers, including KQED Community Reporter \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ccabreralomeli\">Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí\u003c/a>, who even takes his little one out on a leash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, we never intended for simple cigarette breaks to bring so many cats into our lives. But now? We’re in love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Nine philanthropic foundations have joined forces to fill a funding gap created by mid-year budget cuts to Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978209/oakland-arts-budget-cultural-affairs-manager-protests\">Cultural Affairs Division\u003c/a>. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebcf.org/post/east-bay-community-foundation-announces-600000-fund-to-support-24-oakland-arts-and-culture-organizations-this-summer/\">$600,000 emergency fund\u003c/a> will channel one-time grants of up to $28,500 to 24 local arts and culture organizations to support their summer programming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grant recipients initially received funds from Oakland’s Organizational Assistance Program in 2023, expecting the two-year grant to renew for the fiscal year 2024–25. When the city council eliminated the Cultural Affairs Division’s general fund allocation, Acting Cultural Funding Coordinator Pamela Mattera and former Cultural Funding Coordinator Raquel Iglesias led the effort to replace the missing funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donations to the emergency pool come from the Akonadi Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, Gerbode Foundation, Hellman Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Stupski Family Fund and an anonymous source. The East Bay Community Foundation will coordinate the dispersal of funds. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grants are for general operating funds, a rare and valuable category of funding that allows nonprofits to spend money as they see fit. “They can pay for insurance, pay for those programs and community engagement work that they all do,” says Iglesias. “These grants really support everything as opposed to being earmarked for something specific.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The list of 24 grantees includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13955533/creative-growth-sfmoma-the-house-that-art-built-review\">Creative Growth\u003c/a>, EastSide Arts Alliance, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and the Oakland Theater Project. Collectively, the grantees support over 600 Oakland-based artists and 10,000 arts and cultural activities, according to today’s announcement. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving forward, there is no allocation for such grants in the city’s budget. “The future of cultural funding in Oakland is unknown,” Iglesias says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13978209']This is not the first time private foundations have stepped in to help fill gaps left by recent cuts to public funding. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.mellon.org/news/americas-humanities-councils-get-a-lifeline\">Mellon Foundation\u003c/a> announced $15 million in emergency funds for state humanities councils after the National Endowment for the Humanities eliminated funding. The Andy Warhol Foundation and Helen Frankenthaler Foundation committed to fund \u003ca href=\"https://warholfoundation.org/2025/05/07/warhol-and-frankenthaler-foundations-commit-800000-to-support-visual-arts-programs-impacted-by-suspended-nea-grant-initiative/\">80 community arts organizations\u003c/a> affected by the end of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Challenge America Grant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, locally, artists and arts advocates like Iglesias remain committed to advocating for the job of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978209/oakland-arts-budget-cultural-affairs-manager-protests\">Oakland’s cultural affairs manager\u003c/a>, last held by Roberto Bedoya, who retired in October. (Lex Leifheit is serving as interim manager of cultural affairs through November 2025.) The city council cut the position by adopting Oakland’s latest budget on June 11. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today’s announcement, Iglesias points out, shows just how important it is to have someone advocating for Oakland arts and culture to private foundations. “By allowing that position to come back, it gives the city a chance to raise this money moving forward,” she says. “Without that type of leadership in place, it’s just not possible.” \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Nine philanthropic foundations have joined forces to fill a funding gap created by mid-year budget cuts to Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978209/oakland-arts-budget-cultural-affairs-manager-protests\">Cultural Affairs Division\u003c/a>. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebcf.org/post/east-bay-community-foundation-announces-600000-fund-to-support-24-oakland-arts-and-culture-organizations-this-summer/\">$600,000 emergency fund\u003c/a> will channel one-time grants of up to $28,500 to 24 local arts and culture organizations to support their summer programming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grant recipients initially received funds from Oakland’s Organizational Assistance Program in 2023, expecting the two-year grant to renew for the fiscal year 2024–25. When the city council eliminated the Cultural Affairs Division’s general fund allocation, Acting Cultural Funding Coordinator Pamela Mattera and former Cultural Funding Coordinator Raquel Iglesias led the effort to replace the missing funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Donations to the emergency pool come from the Akonadi Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, Gerbode Foundation, Hellman Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Stupski Family Fund and an anonymous source. The East Bay Community Foundation will coordinate the dispersal of funds. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The grants are for general operating funds, a rare and valuable category of funding that allows nonprofits to spend money as they see fit. “They can pay for insurance, pay for those programs and community engagement work that they all do,” says Iglesias. “These grants really support everything as opposed to being earmarked for something specific.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The list of 24 grantees includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13955533/creative-growth-sfmoma-the-house-that-art-built-review\">Creative Growth\u003c/a>, EastSide Arts Alliance, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and the Oakland Theater Project. Collectively, the grantees support over 600 Oakland-based artists and 10,000 arts and cultural activities, according to today’s announcement. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This is not the first time private foundations have stepped in to help fill gaps left by recent cuts to public funding. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.mellon.org/news/americas-humanities-councils-get-a-lifeline\">Mellon Foundation\u003c/a> announced $15 million in emergency funds for state humanities councils after the National Endowment for the Humanities eliminated funding. The Andy Warhol Foundation and Helen Frankenthaler Foundation committed to fund \u003ca href=\"https://warholfoundation.org/2025/05/07/warhol-and-frankenthaler-foundations-commit-800000-to-support-visual-arts-programs-impacted-by-suspended-nea-grant-initiative/\">80 community arts organizations\u003c/a> affected by the end of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Challenge America Grant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, locally, artists and arts advocates like Iglesias remain committed to advocating for the job of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978209/oakland-arts-budget-cultural-affairs-manager-protests\">Oakland’s cultural affairs manager\u003c/a>, last held by Roberto Bedoya, who retired in October. (Lex Leifheit is serving as interim manager of cultural affairs through November 2025.) The city council cut the position by adopting Oakland’s latest budget on June 11. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today’s announcement, Iglesias points out, shows just how important it is to have someone advocating for Oakland arts and culture to private foundations. “By allowing that position to come back, it gives the city a chance to raise this money moving forward,” she says. “Without that type of leadership in place, it’s just not possible.” \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Brand-New Disability Cultural Center Opens in San Francisco",
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"headTitle": "A Brand-New Disability Cultural Center Opens in San Francisco | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978773\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Three people in orange and yellow construction gear and helmets stand in front of a construction site with scaffolding and concrete\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978773\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Disability Cultural Center co-directors Dagny Brown, Mika Weissbuch and Emily Beitiks during construction. The center, directly across from City Hall, plans to host events, classes and support groups. \u003ccite>(Courtesy SFDCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Liz Henry first became a wheelchair user in 1993, while living in poverty and navigating a world of uncertainty. The tools aiding their transition were sparse: a few issues of \u003ci>New Mobility \u003c/i>magazine, a library book written by an author with arthritis and a manual wheelchair stolen out of necessity from Valley Medical Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At De Anza Community College, Henry often asked other students to help push them to class. Then they encountered the Disabled Students Association, a “life-changing” experience. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone just gave me their old wheelchair basketball chair,” Henry recalled. “It was ultra lightweight, it weighed like 19 pounds and was made of titanium or something, and I could zip around independently. That was part of what made it life-changing, but really underlying that was just the sense of community and friendship I found there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s brand-new \u003ca href=\"https://disabilityculturalcenter.org/\">Disability Cultural Center\u003c/a> (DCC) — which celebrates its grand opening on Thursday, July 17, at 165 Grove St. from 12 to 1 p.m. — aims to cultivate even more of that sense of community through events like body movement classes, accessible yoga, collaborative poetry and support groups. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978774\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages.jpg\" alt=\"A large group of nearly a dozen people, all wearing masks and some using wheelchairs, stand in a hallway of a partially finished building\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1761\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978774\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages-160x141.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages-768x676.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages-1536x1352.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cohort of Emerge Fellows of the Longmore Institute visit the DCC as part of a workshop for disabled scholar-activists. \u003ccite>(Courtesy SFDCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While other organizations in the city like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ilrcsf.org/about/\">Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco\u003c/a> focus on advocacy and direct services, and while similar disability centers exist on college campuses, the DCC positions itself as the first of its kind – a hybrid space dedicated to celebrating and cultivating disability through public events. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our goal is to be the space where people can come for a restorative space when you’re exhausted by how much ableism there is, how many inaccessible buildings you’re expected to go to, and for a reset and an escape from that,” said DCC co-founder Emily Beitiks. “We are doing advocacy, but it’s in the form of anti-abelism work, of shifting assumptions about disability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center is located across from City Hall, and around the corner from the Federal Office Building, where 35 years ago \u003ca href=\"https://longmoreinstitute.sfsu.edu/archive/disabled-peoples-forgotten-revolution.html\">dozens of disabled people held a historic demonstration\u003c/a> for national disability rights. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the longest takeover of a federal building in U.S. history – 25 days – the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764.jpg\" alt='A person in a wheelchair looks at the camera in front of a concrete wall with a sign reading \"Disability Cultural Center, 165 Grove Street, disabilityculturalcenter.org.\"' width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978776\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alice Wong visits the Disability Cultural Center in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Courtesy SFDCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Disabled activist Alice Wong, a SoMa resident and founder of the \u003ca href=\"https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/about/\">Disability Visibility Project\u003c/a>, notes that President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” mandates significant cuts to Medi-Cal, resulting in an \u003ca href=\"https://ncil.org/news/announcements/statement-on-passage-hr1/\">especially challenging time for the disabled community\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need community more than ever, and the SF Disability Cultural Center will become a critical place for disabled people to organize, gather and just be with each other,” Wong said. “It shouldn’t be radical, but we need a place of our own. We are so lucky to live in a city that is home to the first publicly-funded center on disability culture which recognizes that we have a history, culture, and language spanning centuries. … I know the DCC will become a hub where everyone feels welcome in a world that is increasingly hostile and violent towards us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DCC has existed virtually for the past year, virtually hosting 110 programs. On Grove Street, its public events will be a hybrid of in-person and livestreaming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center features many amenities for the disabled community to take advantage of, such as weighted and heated blankets, hooks for canes, chairs to fit all body sizes and a large folding wall that opens up to the patio, meant to provide better airflow and accommodate immunocompromised people who require being outside. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Three people stand on the sidewalk across the street from a building, under construction, in the background, posing for the camera\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978775\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Disability Cultural Center co-directors Emily Beitiks, Mika Weissbuch and Dagny Brown during construction. \u003ccite>(Courtesy SFDCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Technology is also built into the space to ensure a smooth operation of hybrid events, a huge perk for someone like Henry. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just imagine, you have a chronic illness, you have a mobility issue, you’re in pain,” Henry said. “This happens to me all the time. I get tickets for something, and then the day comes, and I’m exhausted and can’t make it. So, that lets a broader range of people be able to participate in the community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Beitiks, the real impact of the DCC goes beyond events or amenities, and is about reshaping how disability is understood and valued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want a culture in which disabled people feel we can thrive,” Beitiks said. “And the long-term game involves reaching people’s hearts and minds and rethinking so many of the assumptions that we hold about disability. Culture and the arts – film, music, poetry – these things can completely make disability life experiences more accessible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The San Francisco Disability Cultural Center opens with a ribbon cutting on Thursday, July 17, from noon–1 p.m. \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://disabilityculturalcenter.org/event/press-conference-ribbon-cutting-live-stream/?sid=a0zVL000007Nubm\">\u003ci>Details here\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978773\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Three people in orange and yellow construction gear and helmets stand in front of a construction site with scaffolding and concrete\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978773\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Const.DCC_-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Disability Cultural Center co-directors Dagny Brown, Mika Weissbuch and Emily Beitiks during construction. The center, directly across from City Hall, plans to host events, classes and support groups. \u003ccite>(Courtesy SFDCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Liz Henry first became a wheelchair user in 1993, while living in poverty and navigating a world of uncertainty. The tools aiding their transition were sparse: a few issues of \u003ci>New Mobility \u003c/i>magazine, a library book written by an author with arthritis and a manual wheelchair stolen out of necessity from Valley Medical Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At De Anza Community College, Henry often asked other students to help push them to class. Then they encountered the Disabled Students Association, a “life-changing” experience. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Someone just gave me their old wheelchair basketball chair,” Henry recalled. “It was ultra lightweight, it weighed like 19 pounds and was made of titanium or something, and I could zip around independently. That was part of what made it life-changing, but really underlying that was just the sense of community and friendship I found there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s brand-new \u003ca href=\"https://disabilityculturalcenter.org/\">Disability Cultural Center\u003c/a> (DCC) — which celebrates its grand opening on Thursday, July 17, at 165 Grove St. from 12 to 1 p.m. — aims to cultivate even more of that sense of community through events like body movement classes, accessible yoga, collaborative poetry and support groups. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978774\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages.jpg\" alt=\"A large group of nearly a dozen people, all wearing masks and some using wheelchairs, stand in a hallway of a partially finished building\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1761\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978774\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages-160x141.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages-768x676.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/C86D57A0-21A5-402B-B5B5-0D3AFED90C24-Messages-1536x1352.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cohort of Emerge Fellows of the Longmore Institute visit the DCC as part of a workshop for disabled scholar-activists. \u003ccite>(Courtesy SFDCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While other organizations in the city like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ilrcsf.org/about/\">Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco\u003c/a> focus on advocacy and direct services, and while similar disability centers exist on college campuses, the DCC positions itself as the first of its kind – a hybrid space dedicated to celebrating and cultivating disability through public events. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our goal is to be the space where people can come for a restorative space when you’re exhausted by how much ableism there is, how many inaccessible buildings you’re expected to go to, and for a reset and an escape from that,” said DCC co-founder Emily Beitiks. “We are doing advocacy, but it’s in the form of anti-abelism work, of shifting assumptions about disability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center is located across from City Hall, and around the corner from the Federal Office Building, where 35 years ago \u003ca href=\"https://longmoreinstitute.sfsu.edu/archive/disabled-peoples-forgotten-revolution.html\">dozens of disabled people held a historic demonstration\u003c/a> for national disability rights. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the longest takeover of a federal building in U.S. history – 25 days – the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764.jpg\" alt='A person in a wheelchair looks at the camera in front of a concrete wall with a sign reading \"Disability Cultural Center, 165 Grove Street, disabilityculturalcenter.org.\"' width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978776\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/IMG_0764-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alice Wong visits the Disability Cultural Center in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Courtesy SFDCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Disabled activist Alice Wong, a SoMa resident and founder of the \u003ca href=\"https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/about/\">Disability Visibility Project\u003c/a>, notes that President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” mandates significant cuts to Medi-Cal, resulting in an \u003ca href=\"https://ncil.org/news/announcements/statement-on-passage-hr1/\">especially challenging time for the disabled community\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need community more than ever, and the SF Disability Cultural Center will become a critical place for disabled people to organize, gather and just be with each other,” Wong said. “It shouldn’t be radical, but we need a place of our own. We are so lucky to live in a city that is home to the first publicly-funded center on disability culture which recognizes that we have a history, culture, and language spanning centuries. … I know the DCC will become a hub where everyone feels welcome in a world that is increasingly hostile and violent towards us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DCC has existed virtually for the past year, virtually hosting 110 programs. On Grove Street, its public events will be a hybrid of in-person and livestreaming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The center features many amenities for the disabled community to take advantage of, such as weighted and heated blankets, hooks for canes, chairs to fit all body sizes and a large folding wall that opens up to the patio, meant to provide better airflow and accommodate immunocompromised people who require being outside. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Three people stand on the sidewalk across the street from a building, under construction, in the background, posing for the camera\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978775\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Construction-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Disability Cultural Center co-directors Emily Beitiks, Mika Weissbuch and Dagny Brown during construction. \u003ccite>(Courtesy SFDCC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Technology is also built into the space to ensure a smooth operation of hybrid events, a huge perk for someone like Henry. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just imagine, you have a chronic illness, you have a mobility issue, you’re in pain,” Henry said. “This happens to me all the time. I get tickets for something, and then the day comes, and I’m exhausted and can’t make it. So, that lets a broader range of people be able to participate in the community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Beitiks, the real impact of the DCC goes beyond events or amenities, and is about reshaping how disability is understood and valued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want a culture in which disabled people feel we can thrive,” Beitiks said. “And the long-term game involves reaching people’s hearts and minds and rethinking so many of the assumptions that we hold about disability. Culture and the arts – film, music, poetry – these things can completely make disability life experiences more accessible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The San Francisco Disability Cultural Center opens with a ribbon cutting on Thursday, July 17, from noon–1 p.m. \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://disabilityculturalcenter.org/event/press-conference-ribbon-cutting-live-stream/?sid=a0zVL000007Nubm\">\u003ci>Details here\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How Can We Save Bay Area Theater From Collapse? 11 Local Experts Weigh In",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/category/theater\">Bay Area theater\u003c/a> is in dire circumstances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The venerable \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/aurora-theatre\">Aurora Theatre Company\u003c/a> in Berkeley, facing a budget shortfall of $500,000 and dwindling audiences who never fully returned from the pandemic, has suspended its production calendar after this summer’s show, \u003ci>The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aurora isn’t alone. Since the 2020 pandemic, spaces that make up the heart of the Bay Area’s theater community have wrestled not only with patrons choosing to spend their time and money elsewhere, but a president who has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975661/national-endowment-for-the-arts-grants-canceled-nonprofits\">canceled millions in federal grants for the arts\u003c/a>. And while fundraising campaigns and crowdfunding have become commonplace, there’s only so many times a company can dip into the well of its most loyal patrons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Names once synonymous with cutting-edge Bay Area theater, like Cutting Ball, Theater First, PianoFight and Exit Theatre, have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046149/why-local-theater-is-in-free-fall\">shut down\u003c/a>. Cal Shakes in Orinda, which had been a member of the League of Resident Theatres with one of the most idyllic venues in the region, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13966472/cal-shakes-to-close-down-citing-insurmountable-financial-impasse\">ceased operations\u003c/a> in November after 50 years. The curtain even \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929386/bay-area-childrens-theatre-to-close-citing-financial-challenges\">came down\u003c/a> on Bay Area Children’s Theatre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_12046149']What is the path forward for those companies still remaining, and wrestling with their own dips into the red? Against the dual headwinds of funding cuts and a presidential administration outwardly aggressive to any art that fails to honor the United States and her perceived exceptionalism, Bay Area theater is facing its greatest modern challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing theater makers have in abundance is creativity. But in order for Bay Area theater to have a future, it needs to consider new initiatives that meet the moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the precipice of the fall season, we approached 11 prominent Bay Area directors, actors and administrators who mostly work in small- to mid-sized companies, and asked them all the same simple question:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>“What must be done to ensure the survival of Bay Area theater?”\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Answers have been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978749\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rinabeth Apostol, actor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The word “diversify” bears repeating. I have been lucky to work in the Bay Area and beyond professionally for over 20 years, and while the theater landscape ebbs and flows, my peers and I ultimately find ourselves asking the same questions: Where are the audiences? Why is this theater at risk for closure? Why are we doing [insert name of “classic” play or musical with almost exclusively white cast here] again?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there has been an uptick in more diverse plays, some theatres are still afraid to include more than one “Asian” or “Black” play in their seasons. Latinx and Indigenous stories and shows featuring actors with disabilities are sorely lacking… and not because they don’t exist! There is a staggering amount of new work and playwrights with distinct voices that are available to produce – it’s just a question of whether or not companies are willing to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If theater companies diversify their programming, audiences will usually follow, which is essential in keeping theater doors open. Theater producers need to make an intentional effort to create work that will also enrich and hopefully grow their audience base – not just because the stages should reflect the world we live in, but because embracing a diverse audience will help create a more inclusive community… one that will hopefully reap tangible rewards. Producers need to look beyond their usual subscriber base, which isn’t usually very diverse. There needs to be a cultural and generational shift in what theaters perceive their “ideal audience” to be and they need to actively educate their subscriber base/typical audience members to also embrace that change. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978739\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-1.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-1-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Josh Costello, Artistic Director, Aurora Theatre Company, Berkeley\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The survival of Bay Area theater is not in question — there will always be theater in the Bay Area. Will there be a multitude of theater companies with different missions and visions, paying living wages to local professional artists, while providing the resources these artists need to do their best work? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To ensure a thriving Bay Area theater, we need to constantly advocate for theater’s intrinsic value as an art form, as well as its many positive impacts on our community. We need local and state governments to greatly increase funding for the arts. We need foundations to provide general operating support to organizations that employ local artists. We need to create a culture of philanthropy for the arts in the Bay Area tech community. And we need to inspire people from all walks of life across the Bay Area to put down their phones and attend live theater. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It starts with you. Write to your local government. Subscribe and donate if you can. Bring a friend to see a play. Make something beautiful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978742\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-2.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-2-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Susi Damilano, co-founder and Producing Director, San Francisco Playhouse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This question has as many answers as there are people in our community, but when I consider all the possibilities, it comes down to two essential elements: guts and grit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theater is a business built on humanity’s unlimited capacity to create. So many art forms converge to create a theatrical experience—writers, actors, painters, sculptors, dancers, musicians. These creations aren’t products that can be bottled and sold. Each production is unique. The same script can be interpreted in countless ways, and once a production is set, no two performances are exactly alike. Even the audience changes nightly. Theater is a living thing, which is precisely why it takes guts to invest in it and grit to sustain it. It’s inherently risky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet nothing is more fulfilling than pouring your soul into a piece, wondering if it resonates, and then watching an entire audience respond—erupting in laughter, sitting in stunned silence, or moved to tears. We change lives. We create connections. We are essential as storytellers and mirrors of the human condition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For theater to survive, we need people, governments, and foundations to have the guts to invest their time and money in this vital art form. We need artists and theater-makers to have the grit to persevere through difficult times, to keep collaborating with one another, and to keep creating. Failure is not an option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978740\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-3.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-3-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Paul Flores, playwright, poet, professor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Maybe there is the idea that bigger isn’t always better — let’s start with that, right? Maybe it’s about meeting people where they are in their wallets and in their comfort levels, because the money for theater just isn’t there. How many of those NEA grants were stripped from theater companies? The San Francisco Arts Commission gave away $5 million less this year than they did in 2024, which was $15 million. So money is going away from us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think we have to start thinking, how do we make pieces that are more accessible? Theater producers also have to start thinking about where they’re investing their resources. Do we need to be buying buildings? What does that do for the sustainability of the art, especially in San Francisco? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So many artists have left the Bay Area because they can’t afford rent. What are we doing to help with that? How are we helping the theater companies that currently exist to maintain their seasons? The issue is money right now, which is probably always the problem, right? Maybe it’s smaller productions, maybe it’s less stuff indoors, or less reliance on tech that will produce theater. It would ask for us to reimagine theater as a more open space. What could that look like? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m not trying to look for four walls, but looking for bigger spaces, places that are different, accessible and expansive, maybe a former used car lot or downtown office spaces. That’s what I’m looking at, cultural revitalization. Theater needs to think that way. If it is about neighborhoods, how can we get more democratic participation? We need to ask, hey neighborhoods, what do you want to see for theater? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978746\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-4.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-4-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reed Flores, playwright and director\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bay Area theater is only going to survive if we start to be more intentional about sharing resources, and what we decide to produce. What I have learned this past season is, despite how volatile our industry is and how fickle external funding can be, we are absolutely capable of abundance. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mutually beneficial partnerships, shared rehearsal spaces, co-productions, skill sharing, sharing materials and more. I worked with multiple “small” theaters this season, and each felt so expansive because they opened their doors to their sister theaters and hired beyond their usual network. We must keep filling our neighbor’s cup, in good faith that our neighbor will return the gesture. We are more imaginative and expansive and magical when we share.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a less romantic note, we need to focus our energy on uplifting the new. We have to invest in the generative, brave, the unapologetic reflections of our Bay Area landscape. In the past two years I’ve seen more world premieres by local BIPOC artists, and it is some of the most exciting theater I’ve seen. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978748\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-5.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-5-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Margo Hall, actor, director, Artistic Director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To ensure the survival of Bay Area theater, we must invest in sustainable funding models, radical inclusion and community-rooted programming. We need bold investment in the artists and institutions that make this region vibrant, especially those led by people of color, who have long been under-resourced but have had a deep impact. Sustainable, multi-year funding must be the norm, not the exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also need to nurture the next generation of theater-makers through mentorship, access and genuine opportunities to grow—not just on stage, but behind the scenes, in leadership, and among our audiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area theater will survive if we stay rooted in community. That means telling stories that reflect the people who live here, building trust with those who’ve felt excluded and using theater as a space for truth-telling, healing, and joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This isn’t about returning to what was. It’s about building something more just, more inclusive, and more connected. The work is urgent — and it’s absolutely possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978741\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-6.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-6-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Melissa Hillman, Programs Officer, Theatre Bay Area\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For companies trying to survive now, I think the way forward is cooperation — shared services, shared resources, shared space, even shared audiences; package ticket deals for several companies in the same area, for example. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We need to be reinvesting in theatre education for young people. There’s a mountain of evidence that shows K-12 theatre education benefits student achievement overall. Importantly for the survival of Bay Area theatre, it also creates theatre-goers, and due to the relentless gutting of theatre education in K-12 schools over the past 40 years, there are fewer adults today that consider theatre one of their entertainment options. A reinvestment in theatre education will also create more theatre jobs, making it easier for theatre makers to live and make theatre here. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Accessibility is key. This is both accessibility for disabled people, and financial accessibility. A $60 ticket is just not affordable for many people, and that’s going to get worse over the next few years. Access for disabled people is improving, but there are still issues with ADA compliance in a lot of venues. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with the NEA off the table for most companies, state and local governments need to step up to increase funding. A financial stimulus in local theatre will increase local spending power overall, enabling more people to see theatre, creating a virtuous cycle. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978743\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-7.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-7-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lisa Mallette, Artistic Director, City Lights Theatre Company, San José\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To ensure the survival of Bay Area theater, we need more than passion. We need a systemic shift in how we fund and sustain live performance. Foundations, both local and national, must rediscover their belief in theater’s power to create healthy, vibrant communities. They must recommit to supporting the arts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, the area’s leading businesses have a stake in our cultural ecosystem. When tech giants, biotech firms and local enterprises invest in the arts — through sponsorships, matching gifts or employee programs — they help strengthen creativity, attract talent and build community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theater companies must also innovate rather than repeat pre-pandemic practices and hope for different results. At City Lights Theater Company, we’ve discovered that authentic relationships with patrons and donors create a necessary culture of care. Individuals sharing their time, talent and treasure have fueled our turnaround this year. Ticket sales are rebounding slowly, while rising expenses make individual giving essential to our balance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By uniting foundations, businesses, artists and audiences, we can write a brighter future for Bay Area theater: one where every stakeholder feels a sense of belonging and shared purpose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978744\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-8.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-8-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lisa Ramirez, Associate Artistic Director, Oakland Theater Project\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I think the survival of the Bay Area theater is requiring us all to get more and more creative during this tenuous political period, especially with the smaller houses. This means building stronger local individual and private support systems and funding. This means collaborating and partnering with other theatres, schools and community organizations. It means hiring locally across the board, instead of “outsourcing” talent from other places. That means directors, actors, playwrights. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is so much talent and heart here. We must hire locally to sustain our beautiful ecosystem. The audience members and subscribers appreciate this as well. Being a company member at Oakland Theater Project and writing, acting or working backstage and seeing familiar faces after different shows is not only inspiring but creates repeated shared experiences over time and fosters strong community ties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978745\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-9.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-9-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Leigh Rondon-Davis, Leader of Artistic Curation and Marketing, Crowded Fire Theater\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I think real, intentional interdependence and interconnectedness is essential. I do not think we are going to survive in the siloed ways that we are, given the dwindling resources and the way it’s been impacting our artist community. We are going to have to really depend on and support one another in deeply intentional ways in order to survive — and that, to me, is going to look like partnerships and really robust collaborations between companies and organizations. That’s going to look like multidisciplinary collaborations where there’s also art and music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also need to look at new models for compensating artists so they can live in the Bay Area and still make work. It’s going to look like collaboration and some like real visioning with our local funders and our local governments on universal artist income or grants that support artists in residencies or fellowship, right? We’re going to really need to tap in to talk and work with one another and to help ensure that arts can stay in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978747\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-10.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-10-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Jon Tracy, Artistic Director, Marin Shakespeare Company\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s a myth that somewhere out there is a perfect audience — either huge and universal, or niche and ready-made. Some hope that if the work is broad enough, everyone will show up. Others believe if it’s bold and specific enough, the right people will just find it. But neither really plays out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think we’ve lost faith in the art of the invitation — how we build bridges to those who don’t yet know we’re here, or who’ve never been given a reason to believe theatre is for them. That’s where trust begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m for transparency of intentions, never compromise of the work. Theatre doesn’t have to soften itself to reach people. Pop theatre, trying to please everyone, usually earns the trust of no one. We owe it to everyone to say who we are, what we care about, and be steady about it. Trust doesn’t come from having a universal message. It comes from consistent clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theatre isn’t dead. And when the wave of a world rushing narrowly toward the virtual finally breaks, people will come looking for each other, for connection, for the tangible church of humans creating something real, together.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/category/theater\">Bay Area theater\u003c/a> is in dire circumstances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The venerable \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/aurora-theatre\">Aurora Theatre Company\u003c/a> in Berkeley, facing a budget shortfall of $500,000 and dwindling audiences who never fully returned from the pandemic, has suspended its production calendar after this summer’s show, \u003ci>The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aurora isn’t alone. Since the 2020 pandemic, spaces that make up the heart of the Bay Area’s theater community have wrestled not only with patrons choosing to spend their time and money elsewhere, but a president who has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975661/national-endowment-for-the-arts-grants-canceled-nonprofits\">canceled millions in federal grants for the arts\u003c/a>. And while fundraising campaigns and crowdfunding have become commonplace, there’s only so many times a company can dip into the well of its most loyal patrons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Names once synonymous with cutting-edge Bay Area theater, like Cutting Ball, Theater First, PianoFight and Exit Theatre, have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046149/why-local-theater-is-in-free-fall\">shut down\u003c/a>. Cal Shakes in Orinda, which had been a member of the League of Resident Theatres with one of the most idyllic venues in the region, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13966472/cal-shakes-to-close-down-citing-insurmountable-financial-impasse\">ceased operations\u003c/a> in November after 50 years. The curtain even \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929386/bay-area-childrens-theatre-to-close-citing-financial-challenges\">came down\u003c/a> on Bay Area Children’s Theatre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>What is the path forward for those companies still remaining, and wrestling with their own dips into the red? Against the dual headwinds of funding cuts and a presidential administration outwardly aggressive to any art that fails to honor the United States and her perceived exceptionalism, Bay Area theater is facing its greatest modern challenge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing theater makers have in abundance is creativity. But in order for Bay Area theater to have a future, it needs to consider new initiatives that meet the moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the precipice of the fall season, we approached 11 prominent Bay Area directors, actors and administrators who mostly work in small- to mid-sized companies, and asked them all the same simple question:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>“What must be done to ensure the survival of Bay Area theater?”\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Answers have been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978749\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rinabeth Apostol, actor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The word “diversify” bears repeating. I have been lucky to work in the Bay Area and beyond professionally for over 20 years, and while the theater landscape ebbs and flows, my peers and I ultimately find ourselves asking the same questions: Where are the audiences? Why is this theater at risk for closure? Why are we doing [insert name of “classic” play or musical with almost exclusively white cast here] again?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there has been an uptick in more diverse plays, some theatres are still afraid to include more than one “Asian” or “Black” play in their seasons. Latinx and Indigenous stories and shows featuring actors with disabilities are sorely lacking… and not because they don’t exist! There is a staggering amount of new work and playwrights with distinct voices that are available to produce – it’s just a question of whether or not companies are willing to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If theater companies diversify their programming, audiences will usually follow, which is essential in keeping theater doors open. Theater producers need to make an intentional effort to create work that will also enrich and hopefully grow their audience base – not just because the stages should reflect the world we live in, but because embracing a diverse audience will help create a more inclusive community… one that will hopefully reap tangible rewards. Producers need to look beyond their usual subscriber base, which isn’t usually very diverse. There needs to be a cultural and generational shift in what theaters perceive their “ideal audience” to be and they need to actively educate their subscriber base/typical audience members to also embrace that change. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978739\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-1.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-1-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Josh Costello, Artistic Director, Aurora Theatre Company, Berkeley\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The survival of Bay Area theater is not in question — there will always be theater in the Bay Area. Will there be a multitude of theater companies with different missions and visions, paying living wages to local professional artists, while providing the resources these artists need to do their best work? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To ensure a thriving Bay Area theater, we need to constantly advocate for theater’s intrinsic value as an art form, as well as its many positive impacts on our community. We need local and state governments to greatly increase funding for the arts. We need foundations to provide general operating support to organizations that employ local artists. We need to create a culture of philanthropy for the arts in the Bay Area tech community. And we need to inspire people from all walks of life across the Bay Area to put down their phones and attend live theater. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It starts with you. Write to your local government. Subscribe and donate if you can. Bring a friend to see a play. Make something beautiful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978742\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-2.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-2-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Susi Damilano, co-founder and Producing Director, San Francisco Playhouse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This question has as many answers as there are people in our community, but when I consider all the possibilities, it comes down to two essential elements: guts and grit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theater is a business built on humanity’s unlimited capacity to create. So many art forms converge to create a theatrical experience—writers, actors, painters, sculptors, dancers, musicians. These creations aren’t products that can be bottled and sold. Each production is unique. The same script can be interpreted in countless ways, and once a production is set, no two performances are exactly alike. Even the audience changes nightly. Theater is a living thing, which is precisely why it takes guts to invest in it and grit to sustain it. It’s inherently risky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet nothing is more fulfilling than pouring your soul into a piece, wondering if it resonates, and then watching an entire audience respond—erupting in laughter, sitting in stunned silence, or moved to tears. We change lives. We create connections. We are essential as storytellers and mirrors of the human condition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For theater to survive, we need people, governments, and foundations to have the guts to invest their time and money in this vital art form. We need artists and theater-makers to have the grit to persevere through difficult times, to keep collaborating with one another, and to keep creating. Failure is not an option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978740\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-3.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-3-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Paul Flores, playwright, poet, professor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Maybe there is the idea that bigger isn’t always better — let’s start with that, right? Maybe it’s about meeting people where they are in their wallets and in their comfort levels, because the money for theater just isn’t there. How many of those NEA grants were stripped from theater companies? The San Francisco Arts Commission gave away $5 million less this year than they did in 2024, which was $15 million. So money is going away from us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think we have to start thinking, how do we make pieces that are more accessible? Theater producers also have to start thinking about where they’re investing their resources. Do we need to be buying buildings? What does that do for the sustainability of the art, especially in San Francisco? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So many artists have left the Bay Area because they can’t afford rent. What are we doing to help with that? How are we helping the theater companies that currently exist to maintain their seasons? The issue is money right now, which is probably always the problem, right? Maybe it’s smaller productions, maybe it’s less stuff indoors, or less reliance on tech that will produce theater. It would ask for us to reimagine theater as a more open space. What could that look like? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m not trying to look for four walls, but looking for bigger spaces, places that are different, accessible and expansive, maybe a former used car lot or downtown office spaces. That’s what I’m looking at, cultural revitalization. Theater needs to think that way. If it is about neighborhoods, how can we get more democratic participation? We need to ask, hey neighborhoods, what do you want to see for theater? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978746\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-4.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-4-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reed Flores, playwright and director\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bay Area theater is only going to survive if we start to be more intentional about sharing resources, and what we decide to produce. What I have learned this past season is, despite how volatile our industry is and how fickle external funding can be, we are absolutely capable of abundance. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mutually beneficial partnerships, shared rehearsal spaces, co-productions, skill sharing, sharing materials and more. I worked with multiple “small” theaters this season, and each felt so expansive because they opened their doors to their sister theaters and hired beyond their usual network. We must keep filling our neighbor’s cup, in good faith that our neighbor will return the gesture. We are more imaginative and expansive and magical when we share.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a less romantic note, we need to focus our energy on uplifting the new. We have to invest in the generative, brave, the unapologetic reflections of our Bay Area landscape. In the past two years I’ve seen more world premieres by local BIPOC artists, and it is some of the most exciting theater I’ve seen. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978748\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-5.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-5-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Margo Hall, actor, director, Artistic Director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To ensure the survival of Bay Area theater, we must invest in sustainable funding models, radical inclusion and community-rooted programming. We need bold investment in the artists and institutions that make this region vibrant, especially those led by people of color, who have long been under-resourced but have had a deep impact. Sustainable, multi-year funding must be the norm, not the exception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also need to nurture the next generation of theater-makers through mentorship, access and genuine opportunities to grow—not just on stage, but behind the scenes, in leadership, and among our audiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area theater will survive if we stay rooted in community. That means telling stories that reflect the people who live here, building trust with those who’ve felt excluded and using theater as a space for truth-telling, healing, and joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This isn’t about returning to what was. It’s about building something more just, more inclusive, and more connected. The work is urgent — and it’s absolutely possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978741\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-6.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-6-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Melissa Hillman, Programs Officer, Theatre Bay Area\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For companies trying to survive now, I think the way forward is cooperation — shared services, shared resources, shared space, even shared audiences; package ticket deals for several companies in the same area, for example. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We need to be reinvesting in theatre education for young people. There’s a mountain of evidence that shows K-12 theatre education benefits student achievement overall. Importantly for the survival of Bay Area theatre, it also creates theatre-goers, and due to the relentless gutting of theatre education in K-12 schools over the past 40 years, there are fewer adults today that consider theatre one of their entertainment options. A reinvestment in theatre education will also create more theatre jobs, making it easier for theatre makers to live and make theatre here. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Accessibility is key. This is both accessibility for disabled people, and financial accessibility. A $60 ticket is just not affordable for many people, and that’s going to get worse over the next few years. Access for disabled people is improving, but there are still issues with ADA compliance in a lot of venues. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with the NEA off the table for most companies, state and local governments need to step up to increase funding. A financial stimulus in local theatre will increase local spending power overall, enabling more people to see theatre, creating a virtuous cycle. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978743\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-7.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-7-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lisa Mallette, Artistic Director, City Lights Theatre Company, San José\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To ensure the survival of Bay Area theater, we need more than passion. We need a systemic shift in how we fund and sustain live performance. Foundations, both local and national, must rediscover their belief in theater’s power to create healthy, vibrant communities. They must recommit to supporting the arts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, the area’s leading businesses have a stake in our cultural ecosystem. When tech giants, biotech firms and local enterprises invest in the arts — through sponsorships, matching gifts or employee programs — they help strengthen creativity, attract talent and build community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theater companies must also innovate rather than repeat pre-pandemic practices and hope for different results. At City Lights Theater Company, we’ve discovered that authentic relationships with patrons and donors create a necessary culture of care. Individuals sharing their time, talent and treasure have fueled our turnaround this year. Ticket sales are rebounding slowly, while rising expenses make individual giving essential to our balance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By uniting foundations, businesses, artists and audiences, we can write a brighter future for Bay Area theater: one where every stakeholder feels a sense of belonging and shared purpose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978744\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-8.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-8-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lisa Ramirez, Associate Artistic Director, Oakland Theater Project\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I think the survival of the Bay Area theater is requiring us all to get more and more creative during this tenuous political period, especially with the smaller houses. This means building stronger local individual and private support systems and funding. This means collaborating and partnering with other theatres, schools and community organizations. It means hiring locally across the board, instead of “outsourcing” talent from other places. That means directors, actors, playwrights. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is so much talent and heart here. We must hire locally to sustain our beautiful ecosystem. The audience members and subscribers appreciate this as well. Being a company member at Oakland Theater Project and writing, acting or working backstage and seeing familiar faces after different shows is not only inspiring but creates repeated shared experiences over time and fosters strong community ties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978745\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-9.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-9-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Leigh Rondon-Davis, Leader of Artistic Curation and Marketing, Crowded Fire Theater\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I think real, intentional interdependence and interconnectedness is essential. I do not think we are going to survive in the siloed ways that we are, given the dwindling resources and the way it’s been impacting our artist community. We are going to have to really depend on and support one another in deeply intentional ways in order to survive — and that, to me, is going to look like partnerships and really robust collaborations between companies and organizations. That’s going to look like multidisciplinary collaborations where there’s also art and music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also need to look at new models for compensating artists so they can live in the Bay Area and still make work. It’s going to look like collaboration and some like real visioning with our local funders and our local governments on universal artist income or grants that support artists in residencies or fellowship, right? We’re going to really need to tap in to talk and work with one another and to help ensure that arts can stay in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13978747\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-10.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/unnamed-10-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Jon Tracy, Artistic Director, Marin Shakespeare Company\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s a myth that somewhere out there is a perfect audience — either huge and universal, or niche and ready-made. Some hope that if the work is broad enough, everyone will show up. Others believe if it’s bold and specific enough, the right people will just find it. But neither really plays out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think we’ve lost faith in the art of the invitation — how we build bridges to those who don’t yet know we’re here, or who’ve never been given a reason to believe theatre is for them. That’s where trust begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m for transparency of intentions, never compromise of the work. Theatre doesn’t have to soften itself to reach people. Pop theatre, trying to please everyone, usually earns the trust of no one. We owe it to everyone to say who we are, what we care about, and be steady about it. Trust doesn’t come from having a universal message. It comes from consistent clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Theatre isn’t dead. And when the wave of a world rushing narrowly toward the virtual finally breaks, people will come looking for each other, for connection, for the tangible church of humans creating something real, together.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "What Woodie’s Brutally Honest Rap Meant for Antioch",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, an ongoing KQED series about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> history.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A-Wax had just gotten out of jail when he decided to hit up a hotel party in Concord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year was 2001, and the aspiring lyricist from Pittsburg, California found himself talking to a local rapper from Antioch who’d just been released from prison. The pair made plans to record together that night, and connected in the studio shortly afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over two decades later, that interaction with Ryan Mitchell Wood, better known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkrf43Fpn7k\">Woodie\u003c/a> — one of the most influential rappers from East Contra Costa County — remains a core memory for \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/waxfase/?hl=en\">A-Wax\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was a white guy in a Mexican gang and I was a white guy in a Black gang,” A-Wax recalls of Woodie, who died in 2007. “He just told me to come through to the studio. I was thrown aback. We didn’t know each other. Most people would want money for that, but he just genuinely wanted to link up and make good music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resulting track, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUvOuFYFCIE\">Journey\u003c/a>,” which Woodie produced, is a sempiternal Bay Area mobb banger with slow-dripping bells, sinister synths and cryptic tales of East Bay street life and scandal. The lead single on A-Wax’s debut album \u003ci>Savage Timez\u003c/i>, it represents a different era of Bay Area sound, one nearly alien to the modern general public. It also stands as proof of the non-fungible influence Woodie had on Antioch’s rap world and its surrounding communities as both a storyteller and production maestro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=arts_13938026 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/11/HBKGang.16x9.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet when discussing the Bay Area’s extensive rap canon — a colorful spectrum of voices and personalities born on early-’80s handmade cassette tapes that eventually reached a crescendo with hyphy, which spread throughout the Bay Area like a constantly permutating remix of a remix — the city of Antioch rarely comes to mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With just over 115,000 residents, Antioch is tucked away on the Bay Area’s northeastern outskirts, a remote outpost nearer to Stockton than San Francisco. Founded as Smith’s Landing in 1849 as a gateway settlement into the San Francisco Bay, the historically agricultural community sits along the slow-moving San Joaquin River, offering the promise of a quieter life outside of the region’s larger, more industrialized epicenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s all the more impressive and confounding that of all the Bay Area’s zip codes and bustling populations, Antioch in the late ’90s (rather than, say, East Side San Jose or the Mission District) became ground zero for Northern California’s Latino rap zeitgeist — and all thanks to a white dude. Though largely unrecognized by today’s listener, Woodie’s contributions to Antioch cannot be overlooked. Indeed, very few contemporary rappers could do for their city what Woodie did for his in an era of independent street hustlership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978686\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1080px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978686\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-4.jpg 1080w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-4-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-4-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Woodie and A-Wax, from the cover of their joint release ‘2 Sides of the Game.’ ‘He was a white guy in a Mexican gang and I was a white guy in a Black gang,’ says A-Wax today. ‘He just genuinely wanted to link up and make good music.’ \u003ccite>(Bay Rider Entertainment / Design by Darren Tu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Living the Yoc Life\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Woodie moved from San Leandro to Antioch at age 10. As an only child, he had a strong connection to his single mother, who later would frequently be mentioned in Woodie’s songs. By 14, Woodie had bounced around Antioch High School, Prospects High Alternative School and Live Oak Continuation School without ever graduating. That’s when he became steeped in Latino culture, making friends with those who would initiate him into gang life. After meeting Carlos “Blackbird” Ramirez, Woodie’s involvement with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D6JTfmDC7U\">West Twompster Norteños\u003c/a> deepened. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a teenager, Woodie dabbled in breakdancing and rapping. He showed an aptitude for the creative aspects that hip-hop offered. But he was also drawn to other temptations and lifestyles. He appears to have spent time at Folsom State Prison for assault with a deadly weapon; multiple \u003ca href=\"https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/222829330/ryan_mitchell-wood\">online sources reference his prison sentence\u003c/a>, though no public documentation of it exists, and the timeline of Woodie’s imprisonment is unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1994, Woodie and Ramirez’s close friend Gabriel “Snoop” Roberson was \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/07/parole-denied-for-antioch-man-whose-murder-case-took-on-notoriety-through-rapper-woodies-songs-decries-kangaroo-court-as-hes-led-away/\">convicted of murder\u003c/a> and sentenced to life in a gang-related quintuple shooting. Four years later, Ramirez was caught in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/two-day-standoff-ends-in-tragedy/\">a two-day standoff with the Antioch Police Department\u003c/a> that tragically resulted in an apparent murder-suicide, leaving he and his two daughters dead. Conflicting accounts persist about the incident, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut/comments/150teik/the_story_of_blackbird_from_northern_california/\">internet sleuths\u003c/a> maintaining that Ramirez was a target of police misconduct. Woodie felt the same way, and the influence of both Ramirez and Roberson cast a lasting shadow over Woodie’s life and lyrics, even as the details of both circumstances grew muddied. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=arts_13931795 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/Hus-Jack.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing is clear: Woodie’s life as a white Norteño rapper came with severe complications — and consequences. Woodie \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZQ0uUMEEyQ\">died in 2007\u003c/a> at the age of 31, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head while living in Florence, Oregon. A quick YouTube search will yield various conspiracy theories about Woodie’s death, and for many fans, it’s become a sensitive subject without conclusive answers. To make matters worse, in 2018 — more than a decade after his death — \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/06/01/beyond-disrespectful-iconic-late-antioch-rapper-woodies-headstone-disappears/\">Woodie’s memorial marker was stolen from Holy Cross Cemetery in Antioch\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the theft, Storm Wolf, who coordinated the memorial’s installation, told the \u003ci>East Bay Times\u003c/i> that as loved as Woodie was, “there were people who hated him that much too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Posthumously, however, there are countless stories of Woodie’s stature as a beloved community figure, particularly among Latinos. “Being a Mexican from East San Jose, Woodie helped me get through some hard lonely times as a teen. RIP to one of the realest there ever was,” wrote one viewer on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkrf43Fpn7k\">\u003ci>History of the Bay\u003c/i>\u003c/a> video dedicated to Woodie’s life and career. Every comment section regarding Woodie’s music is populated with similar testimonies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And regardless of people’s personal opinions of him, everyone seems to agree that Woodie succeeded in doing what no one else had up to that point: putting Antioch on the map with fiercely studious, generational artistry. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978688\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1080px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-3_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978688\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-3_2.jpg 1080w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-3_2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-3_2-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Woodie’s influence on Latino rap fans in the Bay Area is still felt today. \u003ccite>(East Co. Co. Records / Design by Darren Tu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Megan Calderon met Woodie at the Contra Costa County Fair in Antioch when they were both teenagers in the ’90s, and the two maintained a lifelong friendship. While Calderon pursued classes at Los Medanos College, Woodie enrolled at nearby Heald College to take a course in sound engineering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I bought a recording arts book for him back then for one dollar,” Calderon says. “I remember he told me how helpful that book was. He became self-taught. There was no older homie or brother or cousin that showed him how to get into the rap game and do music. He just played on the keyboard, messed around and learned how to do the recordings himself. His work ethic was respectable; he literally worked from the ground up. It was super cool to see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘2 Sides of the Game’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until after Woodie was released from prison that he asserted himself as one of the Bay Area’s most operose rap voices, particularly among Chicano listeners. It’s because of Woodie — the slick-haired, 49ers jersey-adorned emcee and producer who represented Antioch with the same to-the-grave vigor as Compton’s Eazy-E or Brooklyn’s Notorious B.I.G. — that “the Yoc” even existed in the greater Bay Area lexicon. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to Woodie, Latino rap in the Bay Area had just started to gain recognition. In 1988, the Latin Poets (featuring \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjWWdDd2Nqc\">Don Cisco\u003c/a> from San Francisco’s Excelsior District) released “Viva La Musica,” understood to be the first Spanish-imbued hip-hop song from the Bay. In 1992, N2DEEP from Vallejo released “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVtRyrOaoZA\">Back to the Hotel\u003c/a>,” which became a massive hit not only on local airwaves, but on MTV. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=arts_13939381 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/5150.MAIN_.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another key figure during that period was \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@GaryBacaTV\">Gary Baca\u003c/a>, also known as G-Spot, a DJ and cable access TV host. His program featured Vallejo’s Funky Aztecs, who peaked with the 2Pac-assisted single “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5AUARw6Hmo\">Slippin’ Into Darkness\u003c/a>” (the song’s video features vatos, lowriders and cholas, and describes lascivious pursuits while encouraging Black and Latino unity over West Coast funk). Other Latin hip-hop figures who would call the Bay Area home include Chuy Gomez, Darkroom Familia, Equipto, Deuce Eclipse, Krudas Cubensi and Los Rakas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Woodie stood apart from his contemporaries. Aside from being a white man with heavy Norteño gang affiliations — an uncommon archetype for a Bay Area rapper, then and now — he was a prolific producer, and the owner of his own record label, East Co. Co. Records, founded in 1997. To fund the label, Woodie put up his Buick Skylark as collateral for a loan; the vehicle would later be featured on his first album cover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1998, Woodie dropped his magnum-opus debut, \u003ci>Yoc Influenced\u003c/i>. The project quickly garnered recognition, and Woodie became one of the Bay’s most promising unsigned talents. He would eventually get picked up by Koch Records in 2001 and enjoy national distribution for his second album, \u003ci>Demonz N My Sleep\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Woodie built his reputation largely on local, independent success — a trademark of many Bay Area greats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a lot more hands-on,” says A-Wax. “We had to paint the town with promotional items on stop signs, liquor store windows, high traffic areas. It was all hand-to-hand, word of mouth: CDs on deck in the trunks of our cars. It was one brick at a time to lay the foundation, without any way to mass promote [on social media]. It was a different beast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with self-delivering CDs to Tower Records, as well as Under Records in Pittsburg and Rock Bottom in Antioch, Woodie and his cohort relied on community hubs to host shows, sell merch and record promotional commercials. It eventually paid off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978691\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Woodie in a detail from the cover of ‘Yoc Influenced,’ his breakout release. \u003ccite>(East Co. Co. Records / Design by Darren Tu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Northern Expozure\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At his apex, Woodie rapped as if he were trapped in an eternal cypher with his inner demons — his songs often referenced sin, Catholicism, suicide and forgiveness. He grappled with the moral dilemmas and emotional vulnerabilities of being involved in crime in ways that most gang-affiliated, shoot-’em-all rappers from the ’90s rarely, if ever, vocalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mother prays that I quit the life I lead / Damn, I try to change my ways, but these streets are callin’ me/ And I love her to death, but at the same time I’m a soldier / I gotta put in work, let rivals know they can’t get over” he says on “The Streets Are Callin’ Me.” The song underscores a conflicted duality: Woodie’s internal search for right and wrong, approval and survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woodie wasn’t just bragging about drive-bys in his music; he was self-analyzing and healing, scanning his past for scars and revealing them publicly. Rather than mindless glorification, his depiction of a predominantly Latino gang experience came through the eyes of a tormented outcast, a poet giving insight into a violent subculture that traditionally lacked dimension beyond sensational news headlines and Hollywood gang flicks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4nC05Jr1Gs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In “The Clock Is Tickin’,” the Antioch philosopher reflects on religious teachings with a tone that’s skeptical, if not harrowingly pragmatic: “The Bible says I live my life rough, statistics say I’ll die young / I can’t disagree ’cause I’m a fucking walking time bomb.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as with the work of 2Pac, Mac Dre, The Jacka and Nipsey Hussle — other great California rappers lost too soon to violence — a gloom of brooding mystery and enigma hangs over Woodie’s subversive storytelling. His words are clouded with a swirling sense of guilt, while confidently projecting clairvoyance about his time coming to an end. \u003ci>Yoc Influenced\u003c/i> is filled with what-ifs (“damn, I tried to change my ways but the streets are calling me”), how-comes (“We used to be homies / You flipped the script and now we rivals”) and fuck-its (“If I fail I’ll rot in jail / and if I succeed I’ll burn in hell / So either way I’m fucked in these streets”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woodie’s own trademark production — eerie, otherworldly — underpinned his every word, providing a funky iciness. Though overlooked, his career as a producer was arguably more important than his rapping in creating Antioch’s soundscape. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bigtone/?hl=en\">Big Tone\u003c/a>, one of Woodie’s former protégés and a fellow Antiochian, describes Woodie’s beats as sounding “like the intro theme song of \u003ci>X-Files\u003c/i>,” the cult television show about unsolved paranormal and extraterrestrial incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=arts_13933590 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/Chuy_Ak_CMC-1920x1080.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like A-Wax, Big Tone (a formerly gang-related Chicano rapper) made his rap debut with Woodie’s assistance; he eventually launched his own label, Sav It Out Records. Tone is one of many in Antioch who praise Woodie not just for his mentorship, but his enduring sonic imprint: creeping synthesizers haunted by dark thumps of bass, accompanied by razor-sharp ruminations on life, prison, loyalty and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before I knew him personally, I was just a fan of his music,” says Big Tone, who recently shared \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2CIydHYcv8&t=248s\">footage of Bay Area icon Mac Dre partying with Woodie\u003c/a> in a tribute song about Antioch, titled “Rivertown.” “Then he found out about me, put me on one of his albums and gave me exposure. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woodie built a niche, regional empire from vacuous air, shouting “Much pride north side of the Golden Gate / it’s Woodie Wood from the A-N-T-I-O-C-H” and documenting his own community with the sociological lens of a gang historian. On \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Xlq5cugFA\">his regionally authoritative hit “Norte Sidin’”\u003c/a> — a blapper which put Woodie on the radar of most listeners — he chronologically lays out Antioch’s rising turf wars like no one had before, all over a sample of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer”: “Back in ’92 only a few of us was ridin’ / ’93 who are these fools South Sidin’ / ’94 we kept the pistol chamber smoking / ’95 they realized the Yoc ain’t joking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woodie followed up the biggest solo success of his career with a group effort: \u003ci>Northern Expozure\u003c/i>, a compilation highlighting other rappers and producers from East Contra Costa County, with an emphasis on Norteño gang members. The compilation would eventually spawn eight volumes. Just as beloved as his own solo albums, the \u003ci>Northern Expozure\u003c/i> series might be Woodie’s biggest contribution to future generations of Antioch rappers, showcasing previously undiscovered talents like Lil Shadow and the aforementioned Big Tone and A-Wax. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978687\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1080px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-2_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978687\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-2_2.jpg 1080w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-2_2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-2_2-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With ‘Northern Expozure,’ Woodie used his newfound notoriety as a platform to promote other artists. \u003ccite>(Bay Rider Entertainment / Design by Darren Tu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to A-Wax, who released “East Co Co” in 2022 as \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THB9ZydxckM\">a heartfelt tribute to his fallen mentor\u003c/a>, Woodie loosely modeled his vision after independent San Francisco rap legend JT the Bigga Figga and his homegrown enterprise Get Low Recordz. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Own the label, sign the artists, make your own beats,” A-Wax explains. “JT was the one we looked up to who did everything on his own … He was kicking up noise. I wasn’t around JT to learn the ins and outs hands-on, but I seen it from a distance, and I know [Woodie] was running the same game plan.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The progenitor of Antioch’s rap culture, Woodie turned “Yoc Life” and “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smsLr6yvbeQ\">Mob Livin’\u003c/a>” into phrases that continue to ring out from lowriders, customized pickups and tinted-window coupes to this day. Woodie never reached the same commercial success as revered Bay rappers like E-40, but then again, who has? Woodie’s legacy is certainly layered, one of a transcendent underground artist loved by his fans and tarnished by his foes. Nonetheless, he remains one of the most gifted and altruistic California gang rappers of all time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This music thing, I’m doing it for my family and my homies,” he says on “Take My Soul,” a bonus track on \u003ci>Yoc Influenced\u003c/i>. “I’m trying to leave some cash in their pockets before I go. The clock is ticking. It’s just a matter of time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The clock eventually ran out for Woodie. But before he left, he gave us all — homies, fans, the Yay — a burning soundtrack that lives on.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s note: This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">That’s My Word\u003c/a>\u003cem>, an ongoing KQED series about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bayareahiphop\">Bay Area hip-hop\u003c/a> history.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A-Wax had just gotten out of jail when he decided to hit up a hotel party in Concord.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year was 2001, and the aspiring lyricist from Pittsburg, California found himself talking to a local rapper from Antioch who’d just been released from prison. The pair made plans to record together that night, and connected in the studio shortly afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over two decades later, that interaction with Ryan Mitchell Wood, better known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkrf43Fpn7k\">Woodie\u003c/a> — one of the most influential rappers from East Contra Costa County — remains a core memory for \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/waxfase/?hl=en\">A-Wax\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was a white guy in a Mexican gang and I was a white guy in a Black gang,” A-Wax recalls of Woodie, who died in 2007. “He just told me to come through to the studio. I was thrown aback. We didn’t know each other. Most people would want money for that, but he just genuinely wanted to link up and make good music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resulting track, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUvOuFYFCIE\">Journey\u003c/a>,” which Woodie produced, is a sempiternal Bay Area mobb banger with slow-dripping bells, sinister synths and cryptic tales of East Bay street life and scandal. The lead single on A-Wax’s debut album \u003ci>Savage Timez\u003c/i>, it represents a different era of Bay Area sound, one nearly alien to the modern general public. It also stands as proof of the non-fungible influence Woodie had on Antioch’s rap world and its surrounding communities as both a storyteller and production maestro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet when discussing the Bay Area’s extensive rap canon — a colorful spectrum of voices and personalities born on early-’80s handmade cassette tapes that eventually reached a crescendo with hyphy, which spread throughout the Bay Area like a constantly permutating remix of a remix — the city of Antioch rarely comes to mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With just over 115,000 residents, Antioch is tucked away on the Bay Area’s northeastern outskirts, a remote outpost nearer to Stockton than San Francisco. Founded as Smith’s Landing in 1849 as a gateway settlement into the San Francisco Bay, the historically agricultural community sits along the slow-moving San Joaquin River, offering the promise of a quieter life outside of the region’s larger, more industrialized epicenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s all the more impressive and confounding that of all the Bay Area’s zip codes and bustling populations, Antioch in the late ’90s (rather than, say, East Side San Jose or the Mission District) became ground zero for Northern California’s Latino rap zeitgeist — and all thanks to a white dude. Though largely unrecognized by today’s listener, Woodie’s contributions to Antioch cannot be overlooked. Indeed, very few contemporary rappers could do for their city what Woodie did for his in an era of independent street hustlership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978686\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1080px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978686\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-4.jpg 1080w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-4-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-4-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Woodie and A-Wax, from the cover of their joint release ‘2 Sides of the Game.’ ‘He was a white guy in a Mexican gang and I was a white guy in a Black gang,’ says A-Wax today. ‘He just genuinely wanted to link up and make good music.’ \u003ccite>(Bay Rider Entertainment / Design by Darren Tu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Living the Yoc Life\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Woodie moved from San Leandro to Antioch at age 10. As an only child, he had a strong connection to his single mother, who later would frequently be mentioned in Woodie’s songs. By 14, Woodie had bounced around Antioch High School, Prospects High Alternative School and Live Oak Continuation School without ever graduating. That’s when he became steeped in Latino culture, making friends with those who would initiate him into gang life. After meeting Carlos “Blackbird” Ramirez, Woodie’s involvement with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D6JTfmDC7U\">West Twompster Norteños\u003c/a> deepened. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a teenager, Woodie dabbled in breakdancing and rapping. He showed an aptitude for the creative aspects that hip-hop offered. But he was also drawn to other temptations and lifestyles. He appears to have spent time at Folsom State Prison for assault with a deadly weapon; multiple \u003ca href=\"https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/222829330/ryan_mitchell-wood\">online sources reference his prison sentence\u003c/a>, though no public documentation of it exists, and the timeline of Woodie’s imprisonment is unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1994, Woodie and Ramirez’s close friend Gabriel “Snoop” Roberson was \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/07/parole-denied-for-antioch-man-whose-murder-case-took-on-notoriety-through-rapper-woodies-songs-decries-kangaroo-court-as-hes-led-away/\">convicted of murder\u003c/a> and sentenced to life in a gang-related quintuple shooting. Four years later, Ramirez was caught in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/two-day-standoff-ends-in-tragedy/\">a two-day standoff with the Antioch Police Department\u003c/a> that tragically resulted in an apparent murder-suicide, leaving he and his two daughters dead. Conflicting accounts persist about the incident, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut/comments/150teik/the_story_of_blackbird_from_northern_california/\">internet sleuths\u003c/a> maintaining that Ramirez was a target of police misconduct. Woodie felt the same way, and the influence of both Ramirez and Roberson cast a lasting shadow over Woodie’s life and lyrics, even as the details of both circumstances grew muddied. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing is clear: Woodie’s life as a white Norteño rapper came with severe complications — and consequences. Woodie \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZQ0uUMEEyQ\">died in 2007\u003c/a> at the age of 31, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head while living in Florence, Oregon. A quick YouTube search will yield various conspiracy theories about Woodie’s death, and for many fans, it’s become a sensitive subject without conclusive answers. To make matters worse, in 2018 — more than a decade after his death — \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/06/01/beyond-disrespectful-iconic-late-antioch-rapper-woodies-headstone-disappears/\">Woodie’s memorial marker was stolen from Holy Cross Cemetery in Antioch\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the theft, Storm Wolf, who coordinated the memorial’s installation, told the \u003ci>East Bay Times\u003c/i> that as loved as Woodie was, “there were people who hated him that much too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Posthumously, however, there are countless stories of Woodie’s stature as a beloved community figure, particularly among Latinos. “Being a Mexican from East San Jose, Woodie helped me get through some hard lonely times as a teen. RIP to one of the realest there ever was,” wrote one viewer on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkrf43Fpn7k\">\u003ci>History of the Bay\u003c/i>\u003c/a> video dedicated to Woodie’s life and career. Every comment section regarding Woodie’s music is populated with similar testimonies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And regardless of people’s personal opinions of him, everyone seems to agree that Woodie succeeded in doing what no one else had up to that point: putting Antioch on the map with fiercely studious, generational artistry. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978688\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1080px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-3_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978688\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-3_2.jpg 1080w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-3_2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-3_2-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Woodie’s influence on Latino rap fans in the Bay Area is still felt today. \u003ccite>(East Co. Co. Records / Design by Darren Tu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Megan Calderon met Woodie at the Contra Costa County Fair in Antioch when they were both teenagers in the ’90s, and the two maintained a lifelong friendship. While Calderon pursued classes at Los Medanos College, Woodie enrolled at nearby Heald College to take a course in sound engineering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I bought a recording arts book for him back then for one dollar,” Calderon says. “I remember he told me how helpful that book was. He became self-taught. There was no older homie or brother or cousin that showed him how to get into the rap game and do music. He just played on the keyboard, messed around and learned how to do the recordings himself. His work ethic was respectable; he literally worked from the ground up. It was super cool to see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘2 Sides of the Game’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until after Woodie was released from prison that he asserted himself as one of the Bay Area’s most operose rap voices, particularly among Chicano listeners. It’s because of Woodie — the slick-haired, 49ers jersey-adorned emcee and producer who represented Antioch with the same to-the-grave vigor as Compton’s Eazy-E or Brooklyn’s Notorious B.I.G. — that “the Yoc” even existed in the greater Bay Area lexicon. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to Woodie, Latino rap in the Bay Area had just started to gain recognition. In 1988, the Latin Poets (featuring \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjWWdDd2Nqc\">Don Cisco\u003c/a> from San Francisco’s Excelsior District) released “Viva La Musica,” understood to be the first Spanish-imbued hip-hop song from the Bay. In 1992, N2DEEP from Vallejo released “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVtRyrOaoZA\">Back to the Hotel\u003c/a>,” which became a massive hit not only on local airwaves, but on MTV. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another key figure during that period was \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@GaryBacaTV\">Gary Baca\u003c/a>, also known as G-Spot, a DJ and cable access TV host. His program featured Vallejo’s Funky Aztecs, who peaked with the 2Pac-assisted single “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5AUARw6Hmo\">Slippin’ Into Darkness\u003c/a>” (the song’s video features vatos, lowriders and cholas, and describes lascivious pursuits while encouraging Black and Latino unity over West Coast funk). Other Latin hip-hop figures who would call the Bay Area home include Chuy Gomez, Darkroom Familia, Equipto, Deuce Eclipse, Krudas Cubensi and Los Rakas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Woodie stood apart from his contemporaries. Aside from being a white man with heavy Norteño gang affiliations — an uncommon archetype for a Bay Area rapper, then and now — he was a prolific producer, and the owner of his own record label, East Co. Co. Records, founded in 1997. To fund the label, Woodie put up his Buick Skylark as collateral for a loan; the vehicle would later be featured on his first album cover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1998, Woodie dropped his magnum-opus debut, \u003ci>Yoc Influenced\u003c/i>. The project quickly garnered recognition, and Woodie became one of the Bay’s most promising unsigned talents. He would eventually get picked up by Koch Records in 2001 and enjoy national distribution for his second album, \u003ci>Demonz N My Sleep\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Woodie built his reputation largely on local, independent success — a trademark of many Bay Area greats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a lot more hands-on,” says A-Wax. “We had to paint the town with promotional items on stop signs, liquor store windows, high traffic areas. It was all hand-to-hand, word of mouth: CDs on deck in the trunks of our cars. It was one brick at a time to lay the foundation, without any way to mass promote [on social media]. It was a different beast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with self-delivering CDs to Tower Records, as well as Under Records in Pittsburg and Rock Bottom in Antioch, Woodie and his cohort relied on community hubs to host shows, sell merch and record promotional commercials. It eventually paid off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978691\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5-768x496.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-Graphic-5-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Woodie in a detail from the cover of ‘Yoc Influenced,’ his breakout release. \u003ccite>(East Co. Co. Records / Design by Darren Tu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Northern Expozure\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At his apex, Woodie rapped as if he were trapped in an eternal cypher with his inner demons — his songs often referenced sin, Catholicism, suicide and forgiveness. He grappled with the moral dilemmas and emotional vulnerabilities of being involved in crime in ways that most gang-affiliated, shoot-’em-all rappers from the ’90s rarely, if ever, vocalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mother prays that I quit the life I lead / Damn, I try to change my ways, but these streets are callin’ me/ And I love her to death, but at the same time I’m a soldier / I gotta put in work, let rivals know they can’t get over” he says on “The Streets Are Callin’ Me.” The song underscores a conflicted duality: Woodie’s internal search for right and wrong, approval and survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woodie wasn’t just bragging about drive-bys in his music; he was self-analyzing and healing, scanning his past for scars and revealing them publicly. Rather than mindless glorification, his depiction of a predominantly Latino gang experience came through the eyes of a tormented outcast, a poet giving insight into a violent subculture that traditionally lacked dimension beyond sensational news headlines and Hollywood gang flicks.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/J4nC05Jr1Gs'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/J4nC05Jr1Gs'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>In “The Clock Is Tickin’,” the Antioch philosopher reflects on religious teachings with a tone that’s skeptical, if not harrowingly pragmatic: “The Bible says I live my life rough, statistics say I’ll die young / I can’t disagree ’cause I’m a fucking walking time bomb.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as with the work of 2Pac, Mac Dre, The Jacka and Nipsey Hussle — other great California rappers lost too soon to violence — a gloom of brooding mystery and enigma hangs over Woodie’s subversive storytelling. His words are clouded with a swirling sense of guilt, while confidently projecting clairvoyance about his time coming to an end. \u003ci>Yoc Influenced\u003c/i> is filled with what-ifs (“damn, I tried to change my ways but the streets are calling me”), how-comes (“We used to be homies / You flipped the script and now we rivals”) and fuck-its (“If I fail I’ll rot in jail / and if I succeed I’ll burn in hell / So either way I’m fucked in these streets”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woodie’s own trademark production — eerie, otherworldly — underpinned his every word, providing a funky iciness. Though overlooked, his career as a producer was arguably more important than his rapping in creating Antioch’s soundscape. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bigtone/?hl=en\">Big Tone\u003c/a>, one of Woodie’s former protégés and a fellow Antiochian, describes Woodie’s beats as sounding “like the intro theme song of \u003ci>X-Files\u003c/i>,” the cult television show about unsolved paranormal and extraterrestrial incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like A-Wax, Big Tone (a formerly gang-related Chicano rapper) made his rap debut with Woodie’s assistance; he eventually launched his own label, Sav It Out Records. Tone is one of many in Antioch who praise Woodie not just for his mentorship, but his enduring sonic imprint: creeping synthesizers haunted by dark thumps of bass, accompanied by razor-sharp ruminations on life, prison, loyalty and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before I knew him personally, I was just a fan of his music,” says Big Tone, who recently shared \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2CIydHYcv8&t=248s\">footage of Bay Area icon Mac Dre partying with Woodie\u003c/a> in a tribute song about Antioch, titled “Rivertown.” “Then he found out about me, put me on one of his albums and gave me exposure. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woodie built a niche, regional empire from vacuous air, shouting “Much pride north side of the Golden Gate / it’s Woodie Wood from the A-N-T-I-O-C-H” and documenting his own community with the sociological lens of a gang historian. On \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Xlq5cugFA\">his regionally authoritative hit “Norte Sidin’”\u003c/a> — a blapper which put Woodie on the radar of most listeners — he chronologically lays out Antioch’s rising turf wars like no one had before, all over a sample of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer”: “Back in ’92 only a few of us was ridin’ / ’93 who are these fools South Sidin’ / ’94 we kept the pistol chamber smoking / ’95 they realized the Yoc ain’t joking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woodie followed up the biggest solo success of his career with a group effort: \u003ci>Northern Expozure\u003c/i>, a compilation highlighting other rappers and producers from East Contra Costa County, with an emphasis on Norteño gang members. The compilation would eventually spawn eight volumes. Just as beloved as his own solo albums, the \u003ci>Northern Expozure\u003c/i> series might be Woodie’s biggest contribution to future generations of Antioch rappers, showcasing previously undiscovered talents like Lil Shadow and the aforementioned Big Tone and A-Wax. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978687\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1080px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-2_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978687\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-2_2.jpg 1080w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-2_2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Woodie-2_2-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With ‘Northern Expozure,’ Woodie used his newfound notoriety as a platform to promote other artists. \u003ccite>(Bay Rider Entertainment / Design by Darren Tu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to A-Wax, who released “East Co Co” in 2022 as \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THB9ZydxckM\">a heartfelt tribute to his fallen mentor\u003c/a>, Woodie loosely modeled his vision after independent San Francisco rap legend JT the Bigga Figga and his homegrown enterprise Get Low Recordz. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Own the label, sign the artists, make your own beats,” A-Wax explains. “JT was the one we looked up to who did everything on his own … He was kicking up noise. I wasn’t around JT to learn the ins and outs hands-on, but I seen it from a distance, and I know [Woodie] was running the same game plan.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The progenitor of Antioch’s rap culture, Woodie turned “Yoc Life” and “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smsLr6yvbeQ\">Mob Livin’\u003c/a>” into phrases that continue to ring out from lowriders, customized pickups and tinted-window coupes to this day. Woodie never reached the same commercial success as revered Bay rappers like E-40, but then again, who has? Woodie’s legacy is certainly layered, one of a transcendent underground artist loved by his fans and tarnished by his foes. Nonetheless, he remains one of the most gifted and altruistic California gang rappers of all time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This music thing, I’m doing it for my family and my homies,” he says on “Take My Soul,” a bonus track on \u003ci>Yoc Influenced\u003c/i>. “I’m trying to leave some cash in their pockets before I go. The clock is ticking. It’s just a matter of time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The clock eventually ran out for Woodie. But before he left, he gave us all — homies, fans, the Yay — a burning soundtrack that lives on.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "public-art-comments-portsmouth-square-san-francisco-chinatown",
"title": "Public Gets to Weigh In on Art Coming to a Renovated Portsmouth Square",
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"headTitle": "Public Gets to Weigh In on Art Coming to a Renovated Portsmouth Square | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In San Francisco’s Chinatown, Portsmouth Square’s renovation may be \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044728/sf-chinatown-park-makeover-delayed-thanks-to-trump-tariffs\">delayed\u003c/a>, but the neighborhood’s artistic future is already in the works. Local residents are being asked to weigh in on the finalists for two planned public artworks — an \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-sculpture\">entrance plaza sculpture\u003c/a> and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-clubhouse-wall\">clubhouse wall\u003c/a> — that will eventually fill the revamped space. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='news_12044728,news_11973503']This opportunity provides community members the chance to be seen and heard, ensuring that the public art chosen for Portsmouth Square truly reflects the people who live, work and gather in Chinatown. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Providing public comments is an essential part of our public art selection process,” notes Coma Te, director of communications for the San Francisco Arts Commission. “We encourage all those who are interested, especially those that actively use the public space or who live nearby, to share their feedback.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community members can share feedback online through the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-sculpture\">SFAC website\u003c/a>, in person at 667 Grant Ave. and 41 Ross Alley (Thursday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.) and during weekly tabling at the Chinatown Rose Pak Station. Public comments for the proposals will be accepted through July 21 until 5 p.m. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-sculpture\">Entryway sculpture\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Serving as a visual invitation to Portsmouth Square, the entryway sculpture will sit at the corner of Walter U Lum and Washington Streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1341px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Lee-Boles-Faw_crop.jpg\" alt=\"tree and cast of tree connected by flat awning, lit at night\" width=\"1341\" height=\"1018\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978666\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Lee-Boles-Faw_crop.jpg 1341w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Lee-Boles-Faw_crop-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Lee-Boles-Faw_crop-768x583.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1341px) 100vw, 1341px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A nighttime rendering of lee + boles faw’s proposal ‘Living Room/Living Gate.’ \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Living Room/Living Gate\u003c/i> by lee + boles faw\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nDesigned to embody the message, “when you welcome a guest, you have found your home,” this sculpture highlights Chinatown’s spirit of hospitality and community. The sculpture features a bronze cast of a magnolia tree that stood in Portsmouth Square for over 60 years (and will be cut down during construction), paired with a gilded wooden beam and a living magnolia growing nearby. The artists propose to form a sculptural gateway that bridges generations. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000.jpg\" alt=\"two metal lion heads with boot-shaped bases\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1374\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978673\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000-1536x1055.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of the bronze guardian lions in Bijun Liang’s ‘鞋天鞋地 (xietian xiedi)’ proposal. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>鞋天鞋地 (xietian xiedi)\u003c/i> by Bijun Liang\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nAn interactive bronze sculpture of two boot-shaped guardian lions, \u003cem>鞋天鞋地 (xietian xiedi)\u003c/em> invites people to touch, engage with and make the sculpture their own, celebrating Chinatown’s spirit of movement, resilience and everyday joy. Rooted in Liang’s personal history as an immigrant raised in the neighborhood, the piece honors the past while looking boldly toward what’s next. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000.jpg\" alt=\"rendering of tree sculpture with different fruits hanging from branches\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1534\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978667\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000-768x589.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000-1536x1178.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A detail from the rendering of Cathy Lu’s ‘Nuwa’s Hand (Fruits of Chinatown)’ proposal. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Nuwa’s Hand (Fruits of Chinatown)\u003c/i> by Cathy Lu\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nThis 11-foot-tall bronze and aluminum sculpture of a mythic tree is rooted in the hand of the Chinese creation goddess, Nuwa. With cast fruits from Chinatown markets growing from its branches, the piece blends ancient symbolism with everyday life to celebrate hybridity, resilience and cultural abundance. Drawing from Lu’s long-standing exploration of diasporic identity, the work reimagines Chinatown as a living, evolving space shaped by its people and their stories. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-clubhouse-wall\">Clubhouse wall\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Installed on the interior and exterior walls of the new Portsmouth Square clubhouse, this artwork will likely be made with mosaics or ceramic tile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978675\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000.jpg\" alt=\"illustration of children riding phoenix with inset illustrations of daily life\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1511\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978675\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000-1536x1160.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A detail of the interior wall in Kayan Cheung-Miaw’s ‘Rising Phoenix’ proposal. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Rising Phoenix\u003c/i> by Kayan Cheung-Miaw\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nDrawing from a comic-inspired art style, Cheung-Miaw’s design captures themes of struggle, resilience, renewal and individual acts of heroism rooted in the histories of Chinatown and Manilatown. At its center is a phoenix, symbolizing abundance, harmony and collective care, which rises as a tribute to the strength and interconnectedness of the community. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000.jpg\" alt=\"rendering of large community space with yellow and red walls\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978674\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A renderings of Jenifer K Wofford’s ‘Community Treasures’ proposal for the interior and exterior clubhouse wall. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Community Treasures\u003c/i> by Jenifer K Wofford\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nReferencing traditional Chinese cabinets, this wall will include illustrations of precious treasures (like festival lanterns and mahjong tiles, or food like dan tat, baos and zong) that reflect Chinatown’s historical, cultural and community values. Several shelves intentionally remain empty as they await objects that will be created in future community workshops. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978676\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000.jpg\" alt=\"red and pink illustration with curving dragon and text in multiple languages\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1482\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978676\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000-768x569.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000-1536x1138.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christine Wong Yap’s ‘Generations of Love and Care’ proposal for the interior wall of the clubhouse. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Generations of Love and Care\u003c/i> by Christine Wong Yap\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nYap’s \u003ci>Generations of Love and Care\u003c/i> features drawings of elderly and young lion dancers in a bold graphic style with warm tones of peachy pink and coral. Made with porcelain enamel on steel, the proposed artwork will include hand-lettered text in multiple languages and interactive features like rubbing plates and a photo-friendly silhouette.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The San Francisco Arts Commission is accepting public comment on six designs until July 21. ",
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"title": "Weigh In on Portsmouth Square’s Future Public Art | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In San Francisco’s Chinatown, Portsmouth Square’s renovation may be \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044728/sf-chinatown-park-makeover-delayed-thanks-to-trump-tariffs\">delayed\u003c/a>, but the neighborhood’s artistic future is already in the works. Local residents are being asked to weigh in on the finalists for two planned public artworks — an \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-sculpture\">entrance plaza sculpture\u003c/a> and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-clubhouse-wall\">clubhouse wall\u003c/a> — that will eventually fill the revamped space. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This opportunity provides community members the chance to be seen and heard, ensuring that the public art chosen for Portsmouth Square truly reflects the people who live, work and gather in Chinatown. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Providing public comments is an essential part of our public art selection process,” notes Coma Te, director of communications for the San Francisco Arts Commission. “We encourage all those who are interested, especially those that actively use the public space or who live nearby, to share their feedback.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community members can share feedback online through the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-sculpture\">SFAC website\u003c/a>, in person at 667 Grant Ave. and 41 Ross Alley (Thursday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.) and during weekly tabling at the Chinatown Rose Pak Station. Public comments for the proposals will be accepted through July 21 until 5 p.m. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-sculpture\">Entryway sculpture\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Serving as a visual invitation to Portsmouth Square, the entryway sculpture will sit at the corner of Walter U Lum and Washington Streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978666\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1341px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Lee-Boles-Faw_crop.jpg\" alt=\"tree and cast of tree connected by flat awning, lit at night\" width=\"1341\" height=\"1018\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978666\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Lee-Boles-Faw_crop.jpg 1341w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Lee-Boles-Faw_crop-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Lee-Boles-Faw_crop-768x583.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1341px) 100vw, 1341px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A nighttime rendering of lee + boles faw’s proposal ‘Living Room/Living Gate.’ \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Living Room/Living Gate\u003c/i> by lee + boles faw\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nDesigned to embody the message, “when you welcome a guest, you have found your home,” this sculpture highlights Chinatown’s spirit of hospitality and community. The sculpture features a bronze cast of a magnolia tree that stood in Portsmouth Square for over 60 years (and will be cut down during construction), paired with a gilded wooden beam and a living magnolia growing nearby. The artists propose to form a sculptural gateway that bridges generations. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978673\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000.jpg\" alt=\"two metal lion heads with boot-shaped bases\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1374\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978673\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Bijun_proposal-poster_2000-1536x1055.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of the bronze guardian lions in Bijun Liang’s ‘鞋天鞋地 (xietian xiedi)’ proposal. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>鞋天鞋地 (xietian xiedi)\u003c/i> by Bijun Liang\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nAn interactive bronze sculpture of two boot-shaped guardian lions, \u003cem>鞋天鞋地 (xietian xiedi)\u003c/em> invites people to touch, engage with and make the sculpture their own, celebrating Chinatown’s spirit of movement, resilience and everyday joy. Rooted in Liang’s personal history as an immigrant raised in the neighborhood, the piece honors the past while looking boldly toward what’s next. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000.jpg\" alt=\"rendering of tree sculpture with different fruits hanging from branches\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1534\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978667\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000-768x589.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CathyLu_2000-1536x1178.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A detail from the rendering of Cathy Lu’s ‘Nuwa’s Hand (Fruits of Chinatown)’ proposal. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Nuwa’s Hand (Fruits of Chinatown)\u003c/i> by Cathy Lu\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nThis 11-foot-tall bronze and aluminum sculpture of a mythic tree is rooted in the hand of the Chinese creation goddess, Nuwa. With cast fruits from Chinatown markets growing from its branches, the piece blends ancient symbolism with everyday life to celebrate hybridity, resilience and cultural abundance. Drawing from Lu’s long-standing exploration of diasporic identity, the work reimagines Chinatown as a living, evolving space shaped by its people and their stories. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/content/art-proposals-portsmouth-square-clubhouse-wall\">Clubhouse wall\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Installed on the interior and exterior walls of the new Portsmouth Square clubhouse, this artwork will likely be made with mosaics or ceramic tile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978675\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000.jpg\" alt=\"illustration of children riding phoenix with inset illustrations of daily life\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1511\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978675\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/CHEUNG_1_2000-1536x1160.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A detail of the interior wall in Kayan Cheung-Miaw’s ‘Rising Phoenix’ proposal. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Rising Phoenix\u003c/i> by Kayan Cheung-Miaw\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nDrawing from a comic-inspired art style, Cheung-Miaw’s design captures themes of struggle, resilience, renewal and individual acts of heroism rooted in the histories of Chinatown and Manilatown. At its center is a phoenix, symbolizing abundance, harmony and collective care, which rises as a tribute to the strength and interconnectedness of the community. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000.jpg\" alt=\"rendering of large community space with yellow and red walls\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978674\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/10b-Wofford-CommunityTreasures_final_2000-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A renderings of Jenifer K Wofford’s ‘Community Treasures’ proposal for the interior and exterior clubhouse wall. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Community Treasures\u003c/i> by Jenifer K Wofford\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nReferencing traditional Chinese cabinets, this wall will include illustrations of precious treasures (like festival lanterns and mahjong tiles, or food like dan tat, baos and zong) that reflect Chinatown’s historical, cultural and community values. Several shelves intentionally remain empty as they await objects that will be created in future community workshops. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978676\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000.jpg\" alt=\"red and pink illustration with curving dragon and text in multiple languages\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1482\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978676\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000-768x569.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/SFAC-PSQ-ProposalBoard-Christine-Wong-Yap_2000-1536x1138.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christine Wong Yap’s ‘Generations of Love and Care’ proposal for the interior wall of the clubhouse. \u003ccite>(San Francisco Arts Commission)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Generations of Love and Care\u003c/i> by Christine Wong Yap\u003c/b>\u003cbr>\nYap’s \u003ci>Generations of Love and Care\u003c/i> features drawings of elderly and young lion dancers in a bold graphic style with warm tones of peachy pink and coral. Made with porcelain enamel on steel, the proposed artwork will include hand-lettered text in multiple languages and interactive features like rubbing plates and a photo-friendly silhouette.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "carl-bolling-dimond-kitchen-oakland-soul-food-chef-dies-obituary-reopening",
"title": "Oakland’s Favorite Late-Night Soul Food Chef Dies in a Tragic Accident",
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"headTitle": "Oakland’s Favorite Late-Night Soul Food Chef Dies in a Tragic Accident | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978604\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978604\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Black man in a black chef's coat and chef's hat smiles for a portrait.\" width=\"1800\" height=\"2521\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-160x224.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-1462x2048.jpg 1462w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Bolling was just starting to make a name for himself at his Oakland soul food restaurant, Dimond Kitchen, when he died tragically on May 30, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Carl Bolling, the chef-owner of Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">Dimond Kitchen\u003c/a>, a popular \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/soul-food\">soul food\u003c/a> restaurant, died on May 30 after a tragic motorcycle accident. He was 47 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Bolling had wanted nothing more than to share his cooking with the world, and it seemed like he was finally living out his dream: The chef’s late-night sidewalk pop-ups in downtown Oakland were the stuff of legend, and for the past year, he’d set up shop inside MacArthur Boulevard’s Two Star Market convenience store six days a week. In recent months, the bustling takeout spot, known as Dimond Kitchen, had earned a reputation as one of the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13972834/convenience-store-soul-food-oakland-dimond-kitchen-late-night\">best soul food restaurants\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Bolling’s family says it will be up to them to carry on the chef’s legacy. His daughter, Kelaija Bolling, says she and Bolling’s girlfriend, Mone Godfrey, plan to reopen Dimond Kitchen in the same location later this month. The idea is to continue serving all of Bolling’s original recipes — his decadently juicy smothered pork chops, succulent fried chicken wings, and tender and potent collard greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing I always remember my dad saying was, ‘One day I might not be there,’” Kelaija says, recalling the times she used to help out at the shop. “‘So make sure you try all the food. Make sure you write down the recipes.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978614\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a convenience store. The banner above reads, \"Dimond Kitchen: Food for the Soul. Grand Opening.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-1536x1056.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For the past year, Bolling’s food business was embedded inside the Two Star Market convenience store in Oakland’s Dimond District. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bolling, who was born and raised in Oakland, is survived by 11 children, ranging in age from seven months to 28 years old. Kelaija, 25, is a college student at Cal State East Bay. She and two of her siblings were waiting to meet Bolling at the restaurant at around 6 p.m. on May 30 when someone ran into the store saying their dad had been in a motorcycle accident just down the street, near the 2101 Club bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family initially feared it was a hit-and-run, but Kelaija says Oakland police told them both drivers were at fault. An ambulance rushed Bolling to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He died just a few hours later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Kelaija, Bolling was a family-oriented man, regularly hosting game nights and organizing family trips to Disney World and Great America. More than anything, she remembers his lifelong passion for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978611\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978611\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo.jpg\" alt=\"A family in matching outfits (white shirts and faded jeans) poses for a group portrait.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-1638x2048.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Bolling (second from the left in the front row) and his children pose for a family portrait. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“During the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter — people always came to eat my dad’s cooking,” Kelaija says. “He didn’t play about his cooking. Everybody loved his food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Bolling decided to give running his own food business a shot. Kelaija says it all started when he tried a plate of hot links from a street festival vendor. “My dad was a real foodie person, like Gordon Ramsay,” Kelaija says. If he ate something he didn’t think was up to snuff, he’d call it like it was — and after tasting those mediocre hot links, Bolling started thinking he could do better himself. In 2018, he started doing late-night pop-ups in downtown Oakland as a side hustle, selling mostly barbecue at first before expanding the menu to include other soul food dishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978610\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978610\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food.jpg\" alt=\"Takeout containers loaded with soul food — smothered pork shops, green beans, fried chicken — on the hood of a car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A spread of Dimond Kitchen’s decadent soul food dishes. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kelaija, who would often help out with these informal sidewalk pop-ups, recalls they’d often sell food until as late as 3 or 4 a.m., after the bars and clubs let out. Bolling touted himself as the Bay Area’s only late-night soul food chef, and parlayed his pop-up success into a thriving catering business and, in the spring of 2024, the launch of his first brick-and-mortar spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turned out, I profiled the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13972834/convenience-store-soul-food-oakland-dimond-kitchen-late-night\">late-night scene at Dimond Kitchen\u003c/a> only two months before Bolling’s death but never had a chance to have a proper conversation with the chef. I remember the first time I visited the restaurant, Bolling had apologized that there was a long wait — and threw in an extra side of (incredibly delicious) candied yams to make up for it. Before that, I’d watched him chat with an older gentleman who kept asking for a plate, promising he’d have the money to pay for it in the morning. “I’m good for it,” the man kept saying. “You’re killing me,” Bolling responded drily. But he hooked the guy up in the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978609\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978609\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen.jpg\" alt=\"A chef ladling food into a tray inside a restaurant kitchen.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1374\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-1536x1055.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bolling’s lifelong passion was food. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Kelaija, that kind of generosity was her father’s hallmark. One of her favorite memories took place just a few weeks before his death. The two of them had just finished up service for the night when Bolling told her they were going to pack up all their leftover food so they could pass it out to unhoused folks on International Boulevard. “He would do that regularly,” she says. “That’s why a lot of people loved my dad and why they had so much respect for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13972834']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>And that’s the spirit of hospitality that Kelaija says she and Bolling’s girlfriend now hope they’ll be able to help carry on. Bolling’s family has started a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-continue-our-fathers-food-legacy?attribution_id=sl:7fc1ce25-7e6e-46fa-b75d-f4a41d8148f9&utm_campaign=natman_sharesheet_dash&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=sms\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> to raise money to keep Dimond Kitchen going — and eventually, she hopes, to launch a food truck or larger sit-down restaurant bearing her father’s name. While the takeout counter inside Two Star Market is currently closed, Kelaija says she’s hoping to reopen it sometime in the next couple of weeks. She’s already started picking up some catering gigs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like [my father] would want us to continue it because that’s what his passion was — to expand the business even further,” Kelaija says. “Because he was still in the process of getting his name out there.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978604\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978604\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Black man in a black chef's coat and chef's hat smiles for a portrait.\" width=\"1800\" height=\"2521\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-160x224.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-1462x2048.jpg 1462w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Bolling was just starting to make a name for himself at his Oakland soul food restaurant, Dimond Kitchen, when he died tragically on May 30, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Carl Bolling, the chef-owner of Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">Dimond Kitchen\u003c/a>, a popular \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/soul-food\">soul food\u003c/a> restaurant, died on May 30 after a tragic motorcycle accident. He was 47 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Bolling had wanted nothing more than to share his cooking with the world, and it seemed like he was finally living out his dream: The chef’s late-night sidewalk pop-ups in downtown Oakland were the stuff of legend, and for the past year, he’d set up shop inside MacArthur Boulevard’s Two Star Market convenience store six days a week. In recent months, the bustling takeout spot, known as Dimond Kitchen, had earned a reputation as one of the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13972834/convenience-store-soul-food-oakland-dimond-kitchen-late-night\">best soul food restaurants\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Bolling’s family says it will be up to them to carry on the chef’s legacy. His daughter, Kelaija Bolling, says she and Bolling’s girlfriend, Mone Godfrey, plan to reopen Dimond Kitchen in the same location later this month. The idea is to continue serving all of Bolling’s original recipes — his decadently juicy smothered pork chops, succulent fried chicken wings, and tender and potent collard greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing I always remember my dad saying was, ‘One day I might not be there,’” Kelaija says, recalling the times she used to help out at the shop. “‘So make sure you try all the food. Make sure you write down the recipes.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978614\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a convenience store. The banner above reads, \"Dimond Kitchen: Food for the Soul. Grand Opening.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-1536x1056.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For the past year, Bolling’s food business was embedded inside the Two Star Market convenience store in Oakland’s Dimond District. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bolling, who was born and raised in Oakland, is survived by 11 children, ranging in age from seven months to 28 years old. Kelaija, 25, is a college student at Cal State East Bay. She and two of her siblings were waiting to meet Bolling at the restaurant at around 6 p.m. on May 30 when someone ran into the store saying their dad had been in a motorcycle accident just down the street, near the 2101 Club bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family initially feared it was a hit-and-run, but Kelaija says Oakland police told them both drivers were at fault. An ambulance rushed Bolling to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He died just a few hours later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Kelaija, Bolling was a family-oriented man, regularly hosting game nights and organizing family trips to Disney World and Great America. More than anything, she remembers his lifelong passion for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978611\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978611\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo.jpg\" alt=\"A family in matching outfits (white shirts and faded jeans) poses for a group portrait.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-1638x2048.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Bolling (second from the left in the front row) and his children pose for a family portrait. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“During the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter — people always came to eat my dad’s cooking,” Kelaija says. “He didn’t play about his cooking. Everybody loved his food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Bolling decided to give running his own food business a shot. Kelaija says it all started when he tried a plate of hot links from a street festival vendor. “My dad was a real foodie person, like Gordon Ramsay,” Kelaija says. If he ate something he didn’t think was up to snuff, he’d call it like it was — and after tasting those mediocre hot links, Bolling started thinking he could do better himself. In 2018, he started doing late-night pop-ups in downtown Oakland as a side hustle, selling mostly barbecue at first before expanding the menu to include other soul food dishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978610\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978610\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food.jpg\" alt=\"Takeout containers loaded with soul food — smothered pork shops, green beans, fried chicken — on the hood of a car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A spread of Dimond Kitchen’s decadent soul food dishes. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kelaija, who would often help out with these informal sidewalk pop-ups, recalls they’d often sell food until as late as 3 or 4 a.m., after the bars and clubs let out. Bolling touted himself as the Bay Area’s only late-night soul food chef, and parlayed his pop-up success into a thriving catering business and, in the spring of 2024, the launch of his first brick-and-mortar spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turned out, I profiled the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13972834/convenience-store-soul-food-oakland-dimond-kitchen-late-night\">late-night scene at Dimond Kitchen\u003c/a> only two months before Bolling’s death but never had a chance to have a proper conversation with the chef. I remember the first time I visited the restaurant, Bolling had apologized that there was a long wait — and threw in an extra side of (incredibly delicious) candied yams to make up for it. Before that, I’d watched him chat with an older gentleman who kept asking for a plate, promising he’d have the money to pay for it in the morning. “I’m good for it,” the man kept saying. “You’re killing me,” Bolling responded drily. But he hooked the guy up in the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978609\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978609\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen.jpg\" alt=\"A chef ladling food into a tray inside a restaurant kitchen.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1374\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-1536x1055.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bolling’s lifelong passion was food. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Kelaija, that kind of generosity was her father’s hallmark. One of her favorite memories took place just a few weeks before his death. The two of them had just finished up service for the night when Bolling told her they were going to pack up all their leftover food so they could pass it out to unhoused folks on International Boulevard. “He would do that regularly,” she says. “That’s why a lot of people loved my dad and why they had so much respect for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>And that’s the spirit of hospitality that Kelaija says she and Bolling’s girlfriend now hope they’ll be able to help carry on. Bolling’s family has started a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-continue-our-fathers-food-legacy?attribution_id=sl:7fc1ce25-7e6e-46fa-b75d-f4a41d8148f9&utm_campaign=natman_sharesheet_dash&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=sms\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> to raise money to keep Dimond Kitchen going — and eventually, she hopes, to launch a food truck or larger sit-down restaurant bearing her father’s name. While the takeout counter inside Two Star Market is currently closed, Kelaija says she’s hoping to reopen it sometime in the next couple of weeks. She’s already started picking up some catering gigs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like [my father] would want us to continue it because that’s what his passion was — to expand the business even further,” Kelaija says. “Because he was still in the process of getting his name out there.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "audium-celebrates-50th-anniversary-by-revisiting-its-very-first-soundscape",
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"content": "\u003cp>In 1970, Stan Shaff and Douglas McEachern bought a building in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> with a vision to choreograph sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For five years, they tinkered with the former donut shop’s layout and design, testing different kinds of audio speakers and acoustic treatments. And in 1975, they formally opened their final version of Audium, a sound theater \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909188/audium-residency-san-francisco-sound\">known today\u003c/a> for its dark inner sanctum and 176 speakers dispersed over the walls, ceiling and floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To celebrate Audium’s 50th anniversary on Bush Street this summer, Dave Shaff, the director of Audium and son of founder Stan Shaff, is reviving \u003cem>Audium VI\u003c/em>, the very first tape piece for the space, created by his father, that will run as an immersive, in-the-dark experience every weekend between mid-July and August. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978439\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978439\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction in the early 1970s transformed the former Stempel’s donut shop on Bush Street to Audium as it’s known today. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Audium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Audium experience goes much deeper than simply listening to prerecorded music. “There is a performance,” Shaff says, “and that’s the movement of the sound, literally like the choreography of taking the sound and moving it from one speaker to another.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the lights go out, “you’ve got nowhere else to go but inside yourself,” says Shaff. The sounds bouncing around the room tend to bring up memories, ideas and fantasies, he says, adding that “it kind of touches the subconscious.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the \u003cem>Audium VI\u003c/em> performances, Audium’s lobby space will display archival ephemera: an old desk with the writings of Stan Shaff, a telephone that plays a surprise recording when listeners hold it up to their ear, the old analog control board from the 1970s and even the original studio four-track tape machine used for shows. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978440\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1513px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1513\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics.jpg 1513w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics-160x212.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics-768x1015.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics-1162x1536.jpg 1162w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1513px) 100vw, 1513px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A schematic from the original plans for Audium. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Audium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s been a lot of memories,” Shaff says about working with the archive. He described the process as “almost too personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s discovering, like, some parts of my parents and their own personal lives,” says Shaff, “I’ll hear them talking to each other on the tape at points, as younger adults.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Audium VI\u003c/em> was composed 10 years before Shaff was born. He describes it as “pretty funky” and “out of the bounds of ordinary” — but he also resisted the urge to clean up the experimental composition’s rough edges. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dad liked to throw a lot of sounds at his audience,” says Shaff. “He’s like Jackson Pollock, you know, the painter that just threw paint on the canvas, except he’s throwing sounds.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13909229\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13909229\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The listening room at Audium is outfitted with 176 speakers. \u003ccite>(Gabe Meline/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those sounds could include electronic noises, field recordings from nature, melodic passages, fog horns and freight trains. In 2022, the resident artist Victoria Shen called Audium “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909188/audium-residency-san-francisco-sound\">one of the last cool, weird, old-school things in San Francisco\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mission for Audium now, Shaff says, is to keep a little bit of that soul of San Francisco alive, while modernizing it for the present day. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Audium VI: Rewind’ runs July 11–Aug. 23 at Audium in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.audium.org/audium-vi-rewind/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In 1970, Stan Shaff and Douglas McEachern bought a building in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> with a vision to choreograph sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For five years, they tinkered with the former donut shop’s layout and design, testing different kinds of audio speakers and acoustic treatments. And in 1975, they formally opened their final version of Audium, a sound theater \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909188/audium-residency-san-francisco-sound\">known today\u003c/a> for its dark inner sanctum and 176 speakers dispersed over the walls, ceiling and floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To celebrate Audium’s 50th anniversary on Bush Street this summer, Dave Shaff, the director of Audium and son of founder Stan Shaff, is reviving \u003cem>Audium VI\u003c/em>, the very first tape piece for the space, created by his father, that will run as an immersive, in-the-dark experience every weekend between mid-July and August. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978439\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978439\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/pICT0034-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction in the early 1970s transformed the former Stempel’s donut shop on Bush Street to Audium as it’s known today. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Audium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Audium experience goes much deeper than simply listening to prerecorded music. “There is a performance,” Shaff says, “and that’s the movement of the sound, literally like the choreography of taking the sound and moving it from one speaker to another.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the lights go out, “you’ve got nowhere else to go but inside yourself,” says Shaff. The sounds bouncing around the room tend to bring up memories, ideas and fantasies, he says, adding that “it kind of touches the subconscious.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the \u003cem>Audium VI\u003c/em> performances, Audium’s lobby space will display archival ephemera: an old desk with the writings of Stan Shaff, a telephone that plays a surprise recording when listeners hold it up to their ear, the old analog control board from the 1970s and even the original studio four-track tape machine used for shows. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978440\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1513px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1513\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics.jpg 1513w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics-160x212.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics-768x1015.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/chematics-1162x1536.jpg 1162w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1513px) 100vw, 1513px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A schematic from the original plans for Audium. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Audium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s been a lot of memories,” Shaff says about working with the archive. He described the process as “almost too personal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s discovering, like, some parts of my parents and their own personal lives,” says Shaff, “I’ll hear them talking to each other on the tape at points, as younger adults.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Audium VI\u003c/em> was composed 10 years before Shaff was born. He describes it as “pretty funky” and “out of the bounds of ordinary” — but he also resisted the urge to clean up the experimental composition’s rough edges. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dad liked to throw a lot of sounds at his audience,” says Shaff. “He’s like Jackson Pollock, you know, the painter that just threw paint on the canvas, except he’s throwing sounds.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13909229\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13909229\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Audium.Room_-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The listening room at Audium is outfitted with 176 speakers. \u003ccite>(Gabe Meline/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those sounds could include electronic noises, field recordings from nature, melodic passages, fog horns and freight trains. In 2022, the resident artist Victoria Shen called Audium “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909188/audium-residency-san-francisco-sound\">one of the last cool, weird, old-school things in San Francisco\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mission for Audium now, Shaff says, is to keep a little bit of that soul of San Francisco alive, while modernizing it for the present day. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Audium VI: Rewind’ runs July 11–Aug. 23 at Audium in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.audium.org/audium-vi-rewind/\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "This Young Oakland Artist Is Headed to the Kennedy Center, Despite Trump’s Takeover",
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"content": "\u003cp>In many ways, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/_bdeveaux/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B. DeVeaux\u003c/a>’s mere existence is a challenge to the status quo. As a femme non-binary first-generation U.S. citizen of Afro Caribbean descent, the California born-and-raised artist sings about self-love, social justice and the power of community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But DeVeaux, an Oakland singer, songwriter and musician, isn’t running from that challenge. Instead, they’re on a collision course — later this month, they \u003ca href=\"https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/millennium-stage/2025/july/oakland-rising/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, the management of the 54-year-old historic institution was taken over by President Trump, who’s consistently promoted anti-queer, anti-immigrant and anti-Black legislation and rhetoric, including his vision for the Kennedy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So for someone like B. DeVeaux, why perform there at all? While many other artists have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vulture.com/article/kennedy-center-canceled-events.html\">publicly canceled their Kennedy Center shows in protest\u003c/a>, the Oakland School for the Arts graduate speaks of a higher calling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I was ever going to be loud and proud and active, and take any kind of stand for my people,” they said during a recent phone call, “I feel like the time is now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1022px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978207\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-8.19.35%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1022\" height=\"1248\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-8.19.35 AM.png 1022w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-8.19.35 AM-160x195.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-8.19.35 AM-768x938.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1022px) 100vw, 1022px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) B. DeVeaux, August Lee Stevens and NAIMA, who perform together as Oakland Rising at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on July 18. \u003ccite>(Ariel Nava)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the July 18 performance, B. DeVeaux will be part of the group Oakland Rising, along with musicians \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954077/august-lee-stevens-better-places\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August Lee Stevens\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/naima.nascimentomusic/\">NAIMA\u003c/a>. Ahead of the show, the three got some poignant advice from another East Bay local who recently chose to perform at the Kennedy Center despite Trump’s takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We spoke with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13971959/w-kamau-bell-kennedy-center-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">W. Kamau Bell\u003c/a> about it,” B. DeVeaux said. “His advice to us was about being intentional, because this may be something that you’re going to talk about for the rest of your life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bell also told the emerging musicians that while people will always have their opinions, what’s important is they make up their minds about what they’re doing it for. “Stand in your truth,” he told them, “you know who you are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13971959']Even as a young artist on the verge of releasing their fist album, B. DeVeaux is clear about the magnitude of this moment — and it all comes at a time when B. DeVeaux is on the move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, B. DeVeaux released their first single, “\u003cspan dir=\"auto\">\u003ca href=\"https://unitedmasters.com/m/because-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Because You\u003c/a>,” from their forthcoming debut album, “Chrysalis.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>B. DeVeaux’s empowering lyrics and impressive vocals pair with acoustic guitar and drums to make a heartwarming R&B song. The emotional track, and the album as a whole, is a dedication to B. DeVeaux’s late sister, Taurian Wolfe-DeVeaux.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week they finish a stint as an understudy in the musical \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13977677/co-founders-act-hip-hop-musical-west-oakland-silicon-valley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>Co-Founders\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. Last week they performed alongside \u003ca href=\"https://www.kmuw.org/podcast/into-music/2025-03-06/into-music-vicki-randle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vicki Randle\u003c/a> at The Freight in Berkeley. And later this month they’ll be on stage at \u003ca href=\"https://www.etickets.com/concerts/country-folk/rhiannon-giddens/saratoga-ca/43024-641/d?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19895240153&gbraid=0AAAAApWhvDz9cxtiKMaKCBbcs-WjapRww&gclid=CjwKCAjwsZPDBhBWEiwADuO6y-bQpXEkHQ2ECwzFVo1awDdK89SPo5Xnb4L3o-JKg0EbuDVWRcwI1RoCc2sQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mountain Winery\u003c/a> for a performance with Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning musician \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rhiannongiddens/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rhiannon Giddens\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978211\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1234px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13978211 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1234\" height=\"1646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2.jpg 1234w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1234px) 100vw, 1234px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In addition to singing, B. DeVeaux plays guitar, bass, and cajon percussion on their forthcoming album. \u003ccite>( Zoë Boston)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s quite a journey for the young artist who, at age 14, shared their queer identity with their family; their father responded by calling them a derogatory term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I decided to let people know who I was,” said B. DeVeaux, “it was met with anger, it was met with insults.” If they can deal with oppression coming from family for merely being who they are, they reasoned, what can society at large possibly throw at them?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On \u003cem>Because of You\u003c/em>, B. DeVeaux’s produces, arranges and plays every instrument, aside from piano by Jonathan Franaszek and drums by Bruce Cook. Recorded through \u003ca href=\"https://womensaudiomission.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Francisco’s Women’s Audio Mission’s\u003c/a> Local Sirens residency, the album captures B. DeVeaux’s poetic lyrics and uninhibited imagination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13975538']On the song “Pluto,” the artist visualizes a world where purple skies and red rain meet green birds, yellow dogs and sugarcane. It’s “where all the things you dream come to life, where nothing is out of reach or out of sight,” they sing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vocalist takes a more intrapersonal approach on the track “Sometimes You Need to Burn in Hell,” singing about accountability, growth, self-love and re-emerging from a low place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know somebody’s going to read that title and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, what?’” B. DeVeaux said. “But it’s also just real. You really gotta go through some stuff to get through it, and there’s no other way. You have to let stuff go, you have to cry, you have be angry, crash out, you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978205\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1184px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13978205 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1184\" height=\"1646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1.jpg 1184w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1-160x222.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1-768x1068.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1-1105x1536.jpg 1105w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1184px) 100vw, 1184px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">B. DeVeaux’s songs often come from ideas recorded on voice notes, channeling the vibes of the music and the moment. \u003ccite>(Saman Qadir)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The album ends with the track “Safe Place,” a song inspired by a conversation with their mom. Reunited after eight years apart, B. DeVeaux’s mother suggested that they write a self-addressed letter. B. DeVeaux decided to write it in song form. While housesitting for a former teacher, they held a mahogany acoustic guitar, playing with some chords from the Beatles song “Blackbird.” After a few repetitions, the words came to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like a theme in my life,” said B. DeVeaux, reflecting on the content in the song, “has been the feeling of being unsupported or unloved; feeling like I’m not enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That feeling was most prominent as a child, they said, noting that in adulthood — especially after their sister’s passing two years ago — the community’s outpouring of love has shifted their perception of support. Now, “I know that I’m loved,” they said. “I know I’m supported.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The song is what the younger version of what B. DeVeaux needed, as well as a warm hug for listeners, according to B. DeVeaux. Each time they perform it, they’re “carving out a little space for that younger person inside” of whoever’s listening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can be everything that you are for yourself,” they said. “You don’t have to go outside of you for anything. You are more than enough. You are here for a reason.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>B. DeVeaux performs July 18 as part of the group Oakland Rising at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The concert will be made available to watch via livestream. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/millennium-stage/2025/july/oakland-rising/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In many ways, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/_bdeveaux/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B. DeVeaux\u003c/a>’s mere existence is a challenge to the status quo. As a femme non-binary first-generation U.S. citizen of Afro Caribbean descent, the California born-and-raised artist sings about self-love, social justice and the power of community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But DeVeaux, an Oakland singer, songwriter and musician, isn’t running from that challenge. Instead, they’re on a collision course — later this month, they \u003ca href=\"https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/millennium-stage/2025/july/oakland-rising/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, the management of the 54-year-old historic institution was taken over by President Trump, who’s consistently promoted anti-queer, anti-immigrant and anti-Black legislation and rhetoric, including his vision for the Kennedy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So for someone like B. DeVeaux, why perform there at all? While many other artists have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vulture.com/article/kennedy-center-canceled-events.html\">publicly canceled their Kennedy Center shows in protest\u003c/a>, the Oakland School for the Arts graduate speaks of a higher calling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I was ever going to be loud and proud and active, and take any kind of stand for my people,” they said during a recent phone call, “I feel like the time is now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1022px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978207\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-8.19.35%E2%80%AFAM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1022\" height=\"1248\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-8.19.35 AM.png 1022w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-8.19.35 AM-160x195.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-02-at-8.19.35 AM-768x938.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1022px) 100vw, 1022px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) B. DeVeaux, August Lee Stevens and NAIMA, who perform together as Oakland Rising at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on July 18. \u003ccite>(Ariel Nava)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the July 18 performance, B. DeVeaux will be part of the group Oakland Rising, along with musicians \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954077/august-lee-stevens-better-places\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August Lee Stevens\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/naima.nascimentomusic/\">NAIMA\u003c/a>. Ahead of the show, the three got some poignant advice from another East Bay local who recently chose to perform at the Kennedy Center despite Trump’s takeover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We spoke with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13971959/w-kamau-bell-kennedy-center-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">W. Kamau Bell\u003c/a> about it,” B. DeVeaux said. “His advice to us was about being intentional, because this may be something that you’re going to talk about for the rest of your life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bell also told the emerging musicians that while people will always have their opinions, what’s important is they make up their minds about what they’re doing it for. “Stand in your truth,” he told them, “you know who you are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Even as a young artist on the verge of releasing their fist album, B. DeVeaux is clear about the magnitude of this moment — and it all comes at a time when B. DeVeaux is on the move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, B. DeVeaux released their first single, “\u003cspan dir=\"auto\">\u003ca href=\"https://unitedmasters.com/m/because-you\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Because You\u003c/a>,” from their forthcoming debut album, “Chrysalis.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>B. DeVeaux’s empowering lyrics and impressive vocals pair with acoustic guitar and drums to make a heartwarming R&B song. The emotional track, and the album as a whole, is a dedication to B. DeVeaux’s late sister, Taurian Wolfe-DeVeaux.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week they finish a stint as an understudy in the musical \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13977677/co-founders-act-hip-hop-musical-west-oakland-silicon-valley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>Co-Founders\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. Last week they performed alongside \u003ca href=\"https://www.kmuw.org/podcast/into-music/2025-03-06/into-music-vicki-randle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vicki Randle\u003c/a> at The Freight in Berkeley. And later this month they’ll be on stage at \u003ca href=\"https://www.etickets.com/concerts/country-folk/rhiannon-giddens/saratoga-ca/43024-641/d?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19895240153&gbraid=0AAAAApWhvDz9cxtiKMaKCBbcs-WjapRww&gclid=CjwKCAjwsZPDBhBWEiwADuO6y-bQpXEkHQ2ECwzFVo1awDdK89SPo5Xnb4L3o-JKg0EbuDVWRcwI1RoCc2sQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mountain Winery\u003c/a> for a performance with Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning musician \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rhiannongiddens/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rhiannon Giddens\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978211\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1234px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13978211 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1234\" height=\"1646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2.jpg 1234w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-2-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1234px) 100vw, 1234px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In addition to singing, B. DeVeaux plays guitar, bass, and cajon percussion on their forthcoming album. \u003ccite>( Zoë Boston)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s quite a journey for the young artist who, at age 14, shared their queer identity with their family; their father responded by calling them a derogatory term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I decided to let people know who I was,” said B. DeVeaux, “it was met with anger, it was met with insults.” If they can deal with oppression coming from family for merely being who they are, they reasoned, what can society at large possibly throw at them?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On \u003cem>Because of You\u003c/em>, B. DeVeaux’s produces, arranges and plays every instrument, aside from piano by Jonathan Franaszek and drums by Bruce Cook. Recorded through \u003ca href=\"https://womensaudiomission.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Francisco’s Women’s Audio Mission’s\u003c/a> Local Sirens residency, the album captures B. DeVeaux’s poetic lyrics and uninhibited imagination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>On the song “Pluto,” the artist visualizes a world where purple skies and red rain meet green birds, yellow dogs and sugarcane. It’s “where all the things you dream come to life, where nothing is out of reach or out of sight,” they sing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vocalist takes a more intrapersonal approach on the track “Sometimes You Need to Burn in Hell,” singing about accountability, growth, self-love and re-emerging from a low place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know somebody’s going to read that title and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, what?’” B. DeVeaux said. “But it’s also just real. You really gotta go through some stuff to get through it, and there’s no other way. You have to let stuff go, you have to cry, you have be angry, crash out, you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978205\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1184px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13978205 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1184\" height=\"1646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1.jpg 1184w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1-160x222.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1-768x1068.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/0-1-1105x1536.jpg 1105w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1184px) 100vw, 1184px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">B. DeVeaux’s songs often come from ideas recorded on voice notes, channeling the vibes of the music and the moment. \u003ccite>(Saman Qadir)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The album ends with the track “Safe Place,” a song inspired by a conversation with their mom. Reunited after eight years apart, B. DeVeaux’s mother suggested that they write a self-addressed letter. B. DeVeaux decided to write it in song form. While housesitting for a former teacher, they held a mahogany acoustic guitar, playing with some chords from the Beatles song “Blackbird.” After a few repetitions, the words came to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like a theme in my life,” said B. DeVeaux, reflecting on the content in the song, “has been the feeling of being unsupported or unloved; feeling like I’m not enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That feeling was most prominent as a child, they said, noting that in adulthood — especially after their sister’s passing two years ago — the community’s outpouring of love has shifted their perception of support. Now, “I know that I’m loved,” they said. “I know I’m supported.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The song is what the younger version of what B. DeVeaux needed, as well as a warm hug for listeners, according to B. DeVeaux. Each time they perform it, they’re “carving out a little space for that younger person inside” of whoever’s listening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can be everything that you are for yourself,” they said. “You don’t have to go outside of you for anything. You are more than enough. You are here for a reason.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>B. DeVeaux performs July 18 as part of the group Oakland Rising at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The concert will be made available to watch via livestream. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/millennium-stage/2025/july/oakland-rising/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A series of budget bills signed by the California Legislature on July 1 have restored the $11.5 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13977084/ca-newsom-state-budget-cuts-performing-arts-equitable-payroll-fund\">Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund\u003c/a>, intended to help pay performers and keep small performing arts venues in operation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governor Gavin Newsom had proposed cutting the fund in his May revision of the state budget, raising alarms for artists, venues and arts advocates. “It is going to potentially decimate small nonprofit performing arts organizations in the state,” Julie Baker, CEO of California Arts Advocates and California for the Arts, told KQED in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The payroll fund, which only launched this year, is meant to offset the cost of complying with AB5, the 2019 law that requires theaters to treat performing artists as employees rather than independent contractors. Since the law’s enactment, small performing arts groups \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13892179/for-some-small-arts-groups-in-ca-adhering-to-labor-law-means-not-paying-artists\">have seen their payroll expenses balloon\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Equitable Payroll Fund is only available to nonprofits with an adjusted gross revenue under $2 million; organizations submit for reimbursements on their payroll expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Arts Advocates, which announced the reinstatement of the payroll fund in a Tuesday \u003ca href=\"https://www.caartsadvocates.org/news/july-2025-legislative-budget-updates\">press release\u003c/a>, argues there is a clear need for the fund. “Over $40 million in applications were received for the program before it was halted by the Governor’s proposal,” the statement read. “Our future advocacy will focus on securing continued funding for this program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13975921']This is a sliver of good news in an otherwise devastating year for arts and cultural funding, which saw the Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975921/national-endowment-for-the-arts-grant-cancellations\">claw back grants\u003c/a> from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Performing arts venues like The Lab and the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company, both of which applied for the funding earlier this year, can breathe a small sigh of relief — they now have at least \u003ci>a chance\u003c/i> at receiving payroll subsidies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains reporting by Sara Hossaini.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A series of budget bills signed by the California Legislature on July 1 have restored the $11.5 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13977084/ca-newsom-state-budget-cuts-performing-arts-equitable-payroll-fund\">Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund\u003c/a>, intended to help pay performers and keep small performing arts venues in operation. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governor Gavin Newsom had proposed cutting the fund in his May revision of the state budget, raising alarms for artists, venues and arts advocates. “It is going to potentially decimate small nonprofit performing arts organizations in the state,” Julie Baker, CEO of California Arts Advocates and California for the Arts, told KQED in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The payroll fund, which only launched this year, is meant to offset the cost of complying with AB5, the 2019 law that requires theaters to treat performing artists as employees rather than independent contractors. Since the law’s enactment, small performing arts groups \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13892179/for-some-small-arts-groups-in-ca-adhering-to-labor-law-means-not-paying-artists\">have seen their payroll expenses balloon\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Equitable Payroll Fund is only available to nonprofits with an adjusted gross revenue under $2 million; organizations submit for reimbursements on their payroll expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Arts Advocates, which announced the reinstatement of the payroll fund in a Tuesday \u003ca href=\"https://www.caartsadvocates.org/news/july-2025-legislative-budget-updates\">press release\u003c/a>, argues there is a clear need for the fund. “Over $40 million in applications were received for the program before it was halted by the Governor’s proposal,” the statement read. “Our future advocacy will focus on securing continued funding for this program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This is a sliver of good news in an otherwise devastating year for arts and cultural funding, which saw the Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975921/national-endowment-for-the-arts-grant-cancellations\">claw back grants\u003c/a> from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Performing arts venues like The Lab and the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company, both of which applied for the funding earlier this year, can breathe a small sigh of relief — they now have at least \u003ci>a chance\u003c/i> at receiving payroll subsidies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains reporting by Sara Hossaini.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In most American municipalities, the elimination of one management job in city government would hardly garner notice. But Oakland is not most American municipalities, which explains why, at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, more than 30 people had gathered on the steps of City Hall to call for reinstating the staff position of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11976824/oakland-hires-its-first-cultural-affairs-manager\">Cultural Affairs Manager\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As simply as I can put it, the arts will not get by without this position,” said Cat Brooks, the Oakland artist, activist and previous mayoral candidate. “Anyone who is in the town, lives in the town or loves the town knows that arts and culture is our heartbeat. So if you’re interested in the heartbeat of Oakland, this position matters to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It marked the third straight week of organized protests against the elimination of the position in Oakland’s latest budget, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043553/alternative-oakland-budget-aims-to-halt-fire-station-closures-boost-police-staffing\">adopted by city council\u003c/a> on June 11. New city expenditures, which cutting the Cultural Affairs Manager would help pay for, include $1.4 million in sideshow prevention, $1 million for the establishment of entertainment zones and an increase to police staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978245\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978245\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cat Brooks speaks at a rally outside of Oakland City Hall protesting the elimination of the Cultural Affairs Manager position from the city budget on July 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Explaining the need for a Cultural Affairs Manager to the average citizen poses a challenge, several attendees noted. It is a city government job, in a place where many artists and musicians are either unconcerned with or directly opposed to city government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I used to actually be one of those artists who did not really feel like the city had anything to offer me,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/kev-choice\">Kev Choice\u003c/a>, a musician and educator who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13875113/oakland-appoints-cultural-affairs-commissioners\">joined the Cultural Arts Commission\u003c/a> in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for artists savvy with grants — or those who get hired or contracted by nonprofits, which is to say nearly all artists in Oakland — the role of a Cultural Affairs Manager provides crucial support. Equal parts advocate, fundraiser, intermediary and ambassador, its impact more than justifies its \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=roberto+bedoya&y=\">$170,000 annual salary\u003c/a>, attendees on Tuesday said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978249\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978249\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Retired Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya gives public comment at an Oakland City Council meeting advocating against the elimination of the Cultural Affairs Manager position from the city budget in Oakland on July 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most people spoke highly of Roberto Bedoya, the former Cultural Affairs Manager who retired in 2024. Hired in 2016, Bedoya worked as a liaison to other departments, argued against cuts and grant delays, ran the public art program, drafted Oakland’s first-ever cultural plan and, importantly, secured money for the city’s arts and culture sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Tuesday’s protest, Bedoya spoke at the city council meeting to note $1.9 million in federal funds and $5 million in public-private partnerships that he had facilitated, and promised that, even in retirement, “I will help you find revenue.” Before he could finish, his microphone was cut off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13957786']The protest and city council meeting on Tuesday stood in stark contrast to the news that, across the Bay, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978179/san-francisco-artist-grants-sfac-2025-2026\">San Francisco had awarded more than $10 million in grants to artists and arts organizations\u003c/a> just that morning. Vanessa Whang, the chair of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Commission, said the grants showed that San Francisco’s leaders were being “smart” about their priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though they are also facing deficits, they understand an investment in the arts and culture sector is what is going to make the city come back,” Whang said, noting the revenue-generating impact of the arts. “The most positive narrative that we have for Oakland right now is our culture. That’s why we get mentioned in \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978250\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978250\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vaenssa Whang, chair of the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission, gives public comment at an Oakland City Council meeting advocating against the elimination of the Cultural Affairs Manager position from the city budget in Oakland on July 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The grants in San Francisco are funded by a hotel tax similar to Oakland’s hotel and lodging tax. Raquel Iglesias, the former cultural funding coordinator who managed the grants program for five years, said that she and Bedoya had urged city administrators to issue grants in 2024 that were delayed, causing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13957786/oakland-art-and-soul-festival-canceled\">cancellation of events like the annual Art & Soul Festival\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Iglesias said, the Cultural Affairs Divison was given no access to general fund monies for grants. “We had just roughly $180,000 in hotel tax money that we gave out in \u003cem>tiny\u003c/em> grants,” Iglesias explained, adding that she and another staff member had as of last week raised roughly $600,000 from private foundations to backfill the money that the city rescinded for general operating grantees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Symphony CEO Mieko Hatano, jazz musician and educator John Santos and Living Jazz executive director Lyz Luke joined those who spoke at the council meeting. Oakland Ballet’s artistic director Graham Lustig and Julie Baker, CEO of California Arts Advocates, are among the dozens of others who have urged the city to reinstate the Cultural Affairs Manager position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978247\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978247\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Raquel Iglesias (center) attends a rally outside of Oakland City Hall protesting the elimination of the Cultural Affairs Manager position from the city budget on July 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even those with no direct income from the arts or the nonprofit world spoke on Tuesday about the importance of art and cultural programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the City Hall steps, the activist Minister King X held his phone to the loudspeaker microphone so that William “Will Bop” Edwards, currently incarcerated in Solano State Prison, could address the assembled crowd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13969048']“When I was young, we had places to go. We had things to do that would scare us away from trouble. And with those places that involve art and creativity, it would allow us to meet, learn, and understand our neighbors. So when we grew up, we were less likely to want to shoot and kill people that grew up with us, because we had a prior relationship with them,” Edwards said, before an automated prison announcement came over the phone line to say that the call was being monitored and recorded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group has vowed to keep protesting every week until the Oakland City Council reinstates the position, said Brooks, who referred to investing in art as a “public safety strategy” that provides revenue and jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel Sanders, a dancer and poet who moved to Oakland two years ago, said that in addition to the impact on her own practice, she was dismayed at the budget being pushed through without sufficient time for thorough review by the public, or even certain council members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This move just makes no sense, and it feels like a betrayal,” Sanders said. “And that’s personal, you know? So that’s why I’m here.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In most American municipalities, the elimination of one management job in city government would hardly garner notice. But Oakland is not most American municipalities, which explains why, at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, more than 30 people had gathered on the steps of City Hall to call for reinstating the staff position of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11976824/oakland-hires-its-first-cultural-affairs-manager\">Cultural Affairs Manager\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As simply as I can put it, the arts will not get by without this position,” said Cat Brooks, the Oakland artist, activist and previous mayoral candidate. “Anyone who is in the town, lives in the town or loves the town knows that arts and culture is our heartbeat. So if you’re interested in the heartbeat of Oakland, this position matters to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It marked the third straight week of organized protests against the elimination of the position in Oakland’s latest budget, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043553/alternative-oakland-budget-aims-to-halt-fire-station-closures-boost-police-staffing\">adopted by city council\u003c/a> on June 11. New city expenditures, which cutting the Cultural Affairs Manager would help pay for, include $1.4 million in sideshow prevention, $1 million for the establishment of entertainment zones and an increase to police staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978245\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978245\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cat Brooks speaks at a rally outside of Oakland City Hall protesting the elimination of the Cultural Affairs Manager position from the city budget on July 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Explaining the need for a Cultural Affairs Manager to the average citizen poses a challenge, several attendees noted. It is a city government job, in a place where many artists and musicians are either unconcerned with or directly opposed to city government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I used to actually be one of those artists who did not really feel like the city had anything to offer me,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/kev-choice\">Kev Choice\u003c/a>, a musician and educator who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13875113/oakland-appoints-cultural-affairs-commissioners\">joined the Cultural Arts Commission\u003c/a> in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for artists savvy with grants — or those who get hired or contracted by nonprofits, which is to say nearly all artists in Oakland — the role of a Cultural Affairs Manager provides crucial support. Equal parts advocate, fundraiser, intermediary and ambassador, its impact more than justifies its \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=roberto+bedoya&y=\">$170,000 annual salary\u003c/a>, attendees on Tuesday said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978249\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978249\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Retired Cultural Affairs Manager Roberto Bedoya gives public comment at an Oakland City Council meeting advocating against the elimination of the Cultural Affairs Manager position from the city budget in Oakland on July 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most people spoke highly of Roberto Bedoya, the former Cultural Affairs Manager who retired in 2024. Hired in 2016, Bedoya worked as a liaison to other departments, argued against cuts and grant delays, ran the public art program, drafted Oakland’s first-ever cultural plan and, importantly, secured money for the city’s arts and culture sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Tuesday’s protest, Bedoya spoke at the city council meeting to note $1.9 million in federal funds and $5 million in public-private partnerships that he had facilitated, and promised that, even in retirement, “I will help you find revenue.” Before he could finish, his microphone was cut off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The protest and city council meeting on Tuesday stood in stark contrast to the news that, across the Bay, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978179/san-francisco-artist-grants-sfac-2025-2026\">San Francisco had awarded more than $10 million in grants to artists and arts organizations\u003c/a> just that morning. Vanessa Whang, the chair of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Commission, said the grants showed that San Francisco’s leaders were being “smart” about their priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though they are also facing deficits, they understand an investment in the arts and culture sector is what is going to make the city come back,” Whang said, noting the revenue-generating impact of the arts. “The most positive narrative that we have for Oakland right now is our culture. That’s why we get mentioned in \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978250\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978250\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vaenssa Whang, chair of the Oakland Cultural Affairs Commission, gives public comment at an Oakland City Council meeting advocating against the elimination of the Cultural Affairs Manager position from the city budget in Oakland on July 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The grants in San Francisco are funded by a hotel tax similar to Oakland’s hotel and lodging tax. Raquel Iglesias, the former cultural funding coordinator who managed the grants program for five years, said that she and Bedoya had urged city administrators to issue grants in 2024 that were delayed, causing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13957786/oakland-art-and-soul-festival-canceled\">cancellation of events like the annual Art & Soul Festival\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Iglesias said, the Cultural Affairs Divison was given no access to general fund monies for grants. “We had just roughly $180,000 in hotel tax money that we gave out in \u003cem>tiny\u003c/em> grants,” Iglesias explained, adding that she and another staff member had as of last week raised roughly $600,000 from private foundations to backfill the money that the city rescinded for general operating grantees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland Symphony CEO Mieko Hatano, jazz musician and educator John Santos and Living Jazz executive director Lyz Luke joined those who spoke at the council meeting. Oakland Ballet’s artistic director Graham Lustig and Julie Baker, CEO of California Arts Advocates, are among the dozens of others who have urged the city to reinstate the Cultural Affairs Manager position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978247\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978247\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/250701-OAKLAND-ARTS-FUNDING-PROTEST-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Raquel Iglesias (center) attends a rally outside of Oakland City Hall protesting the elimination of the Cultural Affairs Manager position from the city budget on July 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even those with no direct income from the arts or the nonprofit world spoke on Tuesday about the importance of art and cultural programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the City Hall steps, the activist Minister King X held his phone to the loudspeaker microphone so that William “Will Bop” Edwards, currently incarcerated in Solano State Prison, could address the assembled crowd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“When I was young, we had places to go. We had things to do that would scare us away from trouble. And with those places that involve art and creativity, it would allow us to meet, learn, and understand our neighbors. So when we grew up, we were less likely to want to shoot and kill people that grew up with us, because we had a prior relationship with them,” Edwards said, before an automated prison announcement came over the phone line to say that the call was being monitored and recorded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group has vowed to keep protesting every week until the Oakland City Council reinstates the position, said Brooks, who referred to investing in art as a “public safety strategy” that provides revenue and jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel Sanders, a dancer and poet who moved to Oakland two years ago, said that in addition to the impact on her own practice, she was dismayed at the budget being pushed through without sufficient time for thorough review by the public, or even certain council members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "American Suburb: The Podcast",
"tagline": "The flip side of gentrification, told through one town",
"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
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"order": 19
},
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"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/feed/podcast",
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}
},
"baycurious": {
"id": "baycurious",
"title": "Bay Curious",
"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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"order": 3
},
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}
},
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"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcrmag/feed/podcast"
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
"tagline": "Your irreverent guide to the trends redefining our world",
"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"code-switch-life-kit": {
"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Code-Switch-Life-Kit-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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},
"commonwealth-club": {
"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
"forum": {
"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
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"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"title": "Here & Now",
"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/hiddenbrain.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"order": 18
},
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
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